Sri Lanka stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Investment Trust, Services and Plantations sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Colombo, the CSE All-Share fell 0.33%.

The best performers of the session on the CSE All-Share were Tea Smallholder Factories PLC (CM:TSML), which rose 18.70% or 4.30 points to trade at 27.30 at the close. Meanwhile, SMB Leasing PLC (CM:SEMB) added 14.29% or 0.1000 points to end at 0.8000 and Maskeliya Plantations PLC (CM:MASK) was up 11.25% or 0.90 points to 8.90 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Mercantile Shipping Company PLC (CM:MSL), which fell 15.13% or 12.50 points to trade at 70.10 at the close. Kalamazoo Systems PLC (CM:KZOO) declined 11.08% or 108.00 points to end at 867.00 and Kelani Valley Plantations PLC (CM:KVAL) was down 9.40% or 5.50 points to 53.00.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Colombo Stock Exchange by 102 to 63 and 49 ended unchanged.

Shares in Mercantile Shipping Company PLC (CM:MSL) fell to 5-year lows; down 15.13% or 12.50 to 70.10.

Crude oil for December delivery was up 0.16% or 0.07 to $45.05 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in January rose 0.20% or 0.09 to hit $46.13 a barrel, while the December Gold contract rose 2.45% or 31.25 to trade at $1305.75 a troy ounce.

GBP/LKR was up 0.17% to 183.550, while USD/LKR rose 0.42% to 148.485.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.61% at 97.28.

(Investing)