Regular trading at the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) was temporarily halted for 30 minutes from 11.07 am to 11.37 am this morning (05) as S&P SL20 index dropped by 5% during the trading session.

S&P SL20 index fell 125.53 points or 5.11% to 2,328.90 and the All Share Price Index also fell 4.26% or 257.54 points in early trade to 5,792.63.

The market turnover was Rs. 402.4 million.

However, when regular trading at the CSE recommenced at 11.37 am, All Share Price Index was down by 355.91 points to 5,694.26 while S&P SL20 index indicated a fall of 159.03 points to 2,295.40.

This is a decline of 5.88% and 6.48%, respectively, in comparison to the last trading day.

Again the market was halted for the second time as the S&P SL 20 Index of liquid stocks plunged over 7.5%, triggering the second circuit breaker threshold. The Trade halt was lifted at 12.13pm.