Sri Lanka shares decline as healthcare, materials drag

Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Monday, weighed down by losses in material and healthcare stocks.

* The CSE All Share index ASI lost roughly 0.6% to 18,042.2.

* Colombo Dockyard DOCK.N0000 and Mercantile Shipping Company MSL.N0000 were the top two losers on the CSE All Share, falling 13% and 8%, respectively.

* Trading volume on the CSE All Share index fell to 153.8 million shares from 156.1 million in the previous session.

* The equity market's turnover slumped to 2.42 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($8.04 million) from 6.76 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

* Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 89.1 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 2.40 billion rupees, the data showed.

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($1 = 301.0000 Sri Lankan rupees)