Industrial, financial stocks weigh down Lankan shares

REUTERS: Sri Lankan shares extended losses to a second straight session yesterday, sliding more than 2 percent, as industrial and financial stocks fell.
At the close of trade, the CSE All-Share index was down 2.62 percent at 12,584.02 points.
Conglomerates Expolanka Holdings and LOLC Holdings were the top drags on the index, falling 10.4 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively.
Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth Rs.161.3 million (US $ 795,561.04) while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing shares worth about Rs.8.82 billion, exchange data showed.
The equity market turnover was Rs.8.93 billion. Trading volume fell to 262.4 million shares, from 399.8 million shares in the previous session.
Sri Lanka signed a US $ 500 million credit line with India to import fuel yesterday, officials said, as it seeks to stave off rolling power cuts amid a foreign exchange crisis that has hampered purchases of diesel for power plants. 

The island-nation reported a total of 612,322 coronavirus cases and 15,473 deaths as of yesterday, data from the country’s health bureau showed.
About 63.89 percent of Sri Lanka’s population has been fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.