Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Tuesday, weighed down by industrial and financial stocks, after the central bank kept its key interest rates unchanged and said the economy is expected to have contracted by around 3.9% for the full year 2020.
* The benchmark stock index .CSE ended down 1.43% at 7,808.97. The index had notched 14 straight sessions of gains.
* Sri Lanka's central bank kept its key interest rates unchanged and said it would maintain its accommodative monetary policy stance
* The central bank also said it expects the economy to rebound in 2021 with the support of stimulus measures.
* Trading volume on the CSE All Share Index rose to 690.06 million from 506.32 million in the previous session.
* Holding company Lanka ORIX Leasing Company Plc and Commercial Leasing & Finance Plc were the top drags on the index, falling 13.3% and 17.6%, respectively.
* Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading 857.6 million rupees ($4.47 million) worth of shares, according to exchange data.
* The Sri Lankan rupee LKR=LK was last quoted at 192 against the U.S. dollar as of 1212 GMT, unchanged for the day compared with last session's close of 192, according to Refinitiv data.
* Equity market turnover was 11.42 billion rupees, exchange data showed.
($1 = 192.0000 Sri Lankan rupees)
(Reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru) ((AnuronKumar.Mitra@thomsonreuters.com; +91 99863 58469;))
