Regular trading at the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) was temporarily halted for 30 minutes from 10.02 am to 10.32 am this morning (13) as S&P SL20 index dropped by 5% during the trading session from the previous close.

S&P SL20 index fell 115.61 points or 5.04% to 2,178.08 and the All Share Price Index also fell 2.98%  or 149.45 points in early trade to 4,870.10.

However, when regular trading at the CSE recommenced at 10.32 am, All Share Price Index was down by 160.76 points to 4,858.79 while S&P SL20 index indicated a fall of 122.61 points to 2,171.08.

This is a decline of 3.20% and 5.35%, respectively, in comparison to the last trading day.

The market turnover was Rs. 241.3 million.

This is the third time regular trading at the CSE was temporarily halted this week.

On Tuesday (10), regular trading was halted for 30 minutes from 9.42 am to 10.12 am and on Thursday (12) the trading was halted from 11.44 am to 12.14 pm.