Sri Lankan shares ended lower on Wednesday, with losses in energy stocks pulling the market down and handing investors a rough session on the Colombo bourse.
The CSE All-Share index settled 0.64% lower at 20,517.55 points.
The sharpest falls came from Standard Capital and C M Holdings PLC, the day’s top percentage losers on the index. Standard Capital shed 10.6%, while C M Holdings dropped 7.2%.
Despite the decline, market activity picked up. Trading volume rose to 60.4 million shares from 43.1 million in the previous session. Turnover climbed to 1.99 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($6.01 million), up from 1.07 billion rupees a day earlier, according to exchange data.
Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 31.5 million rupees. Domestic investors moved in the opposite direction, buying shares worth 1.96 billion rupees on a net basis, the data showed.