Sri Lanka Telecom share price drops 4.4%

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Thursday, hurt by losses in industrial and communication services stocks.

The CSE All-Share index closed 0.62% lower at 8,508.98, exchange data showed.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe will be presenting his first budget on Nov. 14 that is likely to include steep tax increases and other reforms to put the island nation’s tattered economy back on track and get approval from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $2.9 billion bailout.

Conglomerate Expolanka Holdings Plc and Sri Lanka Telecom Plc were the top drags, falling 1.6% and 4.4%, respectively.

Trading volume on the CSE All-Share index rose to 50.2 million shares from 36.4 million in the previous session.

The equity market turnover was 1.19 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($3.28 million), according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing 124.2 million rupees of shares, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 1.17 billion rupees, data showed.