BENGALURU: Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Wednesday, dragged down by energy and utilities stocks.

The CSE All-Share index settled 1.33% lower at 10,945.81 points, logging losses for eight straight sessions.

SMB Finance and Eastern Merchants were the top percentage losers on the index, down 16.7% and 11.8%, respectively.

Energy, financial stocks weigh on Sri Lankan shares

Trading volume on the index rose to 35.1 million shares from 30.1 million shares in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover surged to million 732.5 million Sri Lankan rupees ($2.4 million) from 513.6 million rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 54.3 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 728 million rupees, the data showed.