Sri Lankan shares slip as losses in energy and real estate weigh

Business Recorder reported that Sri Lankan equities ended lower on Monday, with declines in energy and property counters outweighing advances in IT shares. The CSE All-Share index finished 0.34% down at 21,344.77.

Among the index's largest percentage decliners, SMB Finance PLC lost 33.3% while Eastern Merchants PLC shed 7.6%. Index volume reached 67.1 million shares, compared with 50.3 million in the session before, while turnover climbed from 1.22 billion rupees to 16.85 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($51.24 million).

Overseas participants were net sellers to the value of 962.3 million rupees, whereas local participants were net buyers of 16.8 billion rupees in stock, the data showed. Domestic buying therefore exceeded foreign selling by a wide margin on the day.