Sri Lanka stock market falls for fourth straight session

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s stock market fell for the fourth straight session on Friday to at its lowest in near four weeks as worries over the economy and uncertain foreign debt repayment dented investor appetite for risky assets, brokers said.

The main All Share Price Index (ASPI) closed 0.18 percent or 22.56 points lower on Friday to close at 12,863.14 points, its lowest since Jan. 4.

It lost 3.8 percent in the week.“Investors are expecting some sustainable policies to handle the debt.

The government’s ad hoc measures with swap and other borrowing arrangements will not help the country,” one analyst said.

Investors shrugged off an international media report that quoted Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa saying Sri Lanka negotiating debt relief with international bondholders and weighing an approach to seek IMF assistance to face the debt issue.

The island nation repaid a 500 million US dollar loan on Jan. 18 to avoid a sovereign debt default, but persisting forex shortage has weighed on country’s oil imports and led to power cuts.

The government is struggling to avoid continuous power cut amid announced and unannounced power cuts across the country.

Analysts also have said the market was witnessing an overdue correction.S&P SL20 of the more liquid index fell 0.46 percent or 20.36 points to 4,380.55.

The day’s turnover was 6.3 billion rupees, lower than this year’s daily average of 7.8 billion rupees.Foreign investors, who are highly worried about possible sharp depreciation or devaluation in the currency, bucked the trend and bought a net of 45.4 million rupees.

But the foreign selling for this year has been 2.5 billion rupees.

In 2021, the Sri Lanka stock market suffered a net foreign outflow of 50 billion rupees.