Sri Lankan stocks plunged after the island nation reported the first case of Covid-19 community infection in several months.
The Colombo Stock Exchange halted trading twice for 30 minutes each, after it’s blue-chip index first dropped 5% and then 7.5% from its previous closing level. Trading resumed at 12:13 p.m. local time and blue-chip gauge was down 8.8% as of 12:18 p.m.
Sri Lankan authorities closed schools and asked people to avoid non-essential travel over the next 72 hours to contain the spread of the virus. The South Asian island nation, which has so far recorded some 3,400 cases and 13 deaths, imposed an indefinite curfew Sunday on two northwestern provincial towns in the suburbs of Colombo. Sri Lanka had lifted its nationwide lockdown on June 28.
Sri Lanka’s rupee was down 0.1%, erasing earlier gains as the central bank said it had settled a $1 billion international sovereign bond on behalf of the government.
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