COLOMBO: Sri Lankan shares ended Monday weaker at a three-month low in thin trade ahead of a monetary policy announcement by the central bank, as the prime minister’s plan for improving the investment climate failed to cheer the market.
Sri Lanka’s central bank is expected to keep its key interest rates steady later on Monday, a few days ahead of the national budget and the government’s five-year policy.
Sri Lanka will introduce concessions on investments and a lower tax regime in its budget to boost faltering investment, generate jobs and remove obstacles to growth for start-up companies, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in an economic policy statement on Thursday. The benchmark index of the Colombo Stock Exchange ended down 0.24 percent, or 15.62 points, at 6,409.23, its lowest close since July 29.
Last week, the index fell 0.35 percent in its third straight weekly fall. Monday’s turnover was 142.4 million rupees ($962,812.71), less than a fifth of this year’s daily average of 726.2 million. Foreign investors were net buyers of 5.7 million rupees worth of equities on Monday, extending the net foreign inflow this month to 1.21 billion rupees.
