Sri Lankan shares fell to their lowest close in nearly two weeks on Monday, as investors waited for more clarity after the main opposition party named a hard-line former defence chief as its presidential candidate, to capitalise on public clamour for a decisive leader. The benchmark stock index ended down 0.43% at 5,869.07, its lowest close since Aug. 6. The index posted a loss of 0.82% last week, its first weekly decline in eight. The market expects to hear a list of policies from former defence chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa as well as the ruling party's presidential candidate who is yet to be announced, dealers said.

Foreign investors exited from risky assets for the third session in four since Gotabaya was nominated. They sold a net 19 million rupees worth of shares on Monday. So far this year, the index has dropped about 3%. Turnover was 622.6 million rupees ($3.51 million), lower than this year's daily average of about 655 million rupees so far. Last year's daily average came in at 834 million rupees.

Copyright Reuters, 2019