Sri Lankan shares closed lower for first time in five sessions on Tuesday, dragged down by a pull back in financial and industrial companies.

The CSE All-Share index ended down 0.65% at 9,749.09 points. The index closed at a five-and-a-half-month high on Monday.

Financial advisory group Lazard has started talks with India, China and Japan on restructuring Sri Lanka's debt, a spokesman for the Sri Lanka government said on Tuesday, as the crisis-hit island nation seeks an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.

The nation of 22 million is facing its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, as it struggles with soaring inflation, economic contraction and a severe shortage of essential items caused by a record slump in foreign reserves.

Micro lender LOLC Development Finance Plc and conglomerate Expolanka Holdings were the top drags on the index, falling 6% and 2%, respectively.

Trading volume on the CSE All-Share index fell to 152.2 million shares from 216.5 million shares in the previous session.

The equity market turnover was 3.77 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($10.45 million), according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing 151.9 million rupees worth of shares, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading 3.73 billion rupees worth of stocks, data showed.

(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)