COLOMBO: Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Wednesday, dragged by energy and materials stocks. The CSE All-Share index settled 0.49% lower at 11,934.23.

Diesel & Motor Engineering Plc and Union Chemicals Lanka Plc were the top loser on the index, down 6.3% and 5.5%, respectively.

Trading volume on the index fell to 73.2 million shares from 133.9 million shares in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover fell to 2.30 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($7.80 million) from 3.53 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 112.3 million rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing shares worth 2.24 billion rupees, the data showed.