CSE: Insurance, financial services, and bank stocks fall

Sri Lankan shares closed lower, falling for the first session in five, dragged by a drop in financial stocks.

* The CSE All Share index settled down 0.42% at 15,799.94. It logged its third straight month of losses in April.

* Insurance stocks declined 1.25%, financial services stocks fell 1.16% and banks edged 0.88% lower.

* Nation Lanka Finance and Serendib Land were the top percentage losers on the CSE All Share, falling 50% and 5.2%, respectively.

* Meanwhile, the island nation’s deputy finance minister said that Colombo has not proposed a specific tariff to the US.

* Trading volume on the CSE All Share index rose to 124.8 million shares from 109.5 million in the previous session. *

According to exchange data, the equity market’s turnover rose to 2.38 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($8 million) from 2.07 billion rupees in the previous session.

* Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 244 million rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing shares worth 2.22 billion rupees, the data showed.