Sri Lankan shares close lower, end week little changed

Business Recorder reported that Sri Lankan equities ended Friday in negative territory, with energy and utilities counters weighing most heavily. The CSE All-Share index shed 0.14% to close at 21,037.35. Even so, the benchmark gained 0.009% across the full week, snapping a pair of weekly declines.

Pegasus Hotels of Ceylon PLC and Tess Agro PLC posted the steepest drops of the session, down 6.7% and 5.6% respectively. Activity cooled as the number of shares changing hands fell to 26.5 million, compared with 37.8 million previously.

Equity turnover contracted, totalling 814.9 million Sri Lankan rupees or $2.47 million, down from 1.20 billion rupees previously. Overseas participants were net disposers of 207.1 million rupees in stock, whereas domestic investors added 801.1 million rupees on a net basis, according to exchange figures.