The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) temporarily halted its regular trading session for the second time today (April 26) as the S&P SL20 Index dropped over 7.5% from the previous close, as set out in the SEC Directive dated April 30, 2020.

Thereby, the market remained closed for five minutes from 11.02 a.m. to 11.07 a.m. The CSE said it is conducting an auction session for 25 minutes from 11.07 a.m. to 11.32 a.m.

The regular trading session will accordingly resume at 11.32 a.m.

At the time of the trading halt, the S&P SL20 index fell by 209.16 points (8.88%) to 2,146.38 while the All Share Price Index (ASPI) fell by 548.50 points (7.30%) to 6,965.35.

Earlier this morning, the CSE suspended its regular trading session for a period of 30 minutes after the S&P SL20 index dropped over 5% from the previous close. The market was halted from 10.31 a.m. to 11.01 a.m.

UPDATE: The stock market has been halted and closed for the rest of the day due to the S&P SL20 Index dropping over 10% from the previous close.

At the time of the trading closure, the S&P SL20 index had fallen by 232.60 points to 2,122.94 while the All Share Price Index (ASPI) fell by 629.84 points to 6,884.01.

More than 91.7 million shares were traded overall within the day and the market turnover was recorded above Rs. 800 million.