Sri Lankan shares slip for second day, rupee falls

The Sri Lankan rupee fell on Monday, while a slide in financial stocks drove equities lower for a second straight session.

* The Sri Lankan rupee was last quoted at 193.50 against the dollar as of 1215 GMT, 1.57% weaker for the day compared with the previous session's close of 190.50, according to Refinitiv data.

* Sri Lanka's benchmark stock index ended 1.17% lower at 8,567.07.

* The index has hit multiple all-time highs in recent weeks, and is still up 26.5% so far in 2021, among the strongest equity gains this year for emerging markets.

* Trading volume on the CSE All Share Index rose to 2.87 billion from 336 million in the previous session.

* Microfinance firm LOLC Development Finance and Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc were the top drags on the benchmark, falling 17.7% and 3.7%, respectively.

* Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading 532.1 million Sri Lankan rupees ($2.8 million) worth of shares, according to exchange data.

* Equity market turnover was 23.75 billion rupees, exchange data showed.

($1 = 193.5000 Sri Lankan rupees)

(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V) ((saisachin.r@tr.com; +91 80 6182 2754; Twitter: @sachinr27;))