* The CSE All-Share index closed 0.81% lower at 9527.05.
* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is allowing Sri Lanka to utilise
funds from its latest bailout for fiscal support, unlike previous loans that
could only be used to ease balance of payments crises, central bank governor
Nandalal Weerasinghe told Bloomberg on Tuesday.
* Sri Lanka has received the first tranche of about $330 million of an IMF
bailout programme, President Ranil Wickremesinghe told parliament on Wednesday.
* Sri Lanka will kick off the next round of talks with creditors in the
third week of April, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Wednesday.
* "This will create opportunities for low-interest credit, restore foreign
investors' confidence and lay the foundation for a strong new economy," he said.
* Energy company Lanka IOC and Carson Cumberbatch were
the top drags on the index, falling 4.2% and 3.6% respectively, according to
Refinitiv data.
* The trading volume for the CSE All-Share index fell to about 70 million
shares from 78.9 million in the previous session.
* The equity market's turnover fell to 1.51 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($4.73
million) from 1.48 billion rupees in the previous session, according to the
exchange data.
* Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing stocks
worth 58.7 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading
1.49 billion rupees worth of shares, the data showed.
* For a report on global markets, click ($1 = 319.0000 Sri Lankan rupees)
(Reporting by Meenakshi Maidas in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
