COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's Colombo Stock Exchange on Monday said it has halted trading of shares for 30 minutes due to a sharp fall in the benchmark share price index.

"Please note that the Market has been halted for 30 minutes due to the S&P SL20 index dropping over 5% from the previous close," the bourse said on its website. "The halt will be lifted at 11.02 A.M."

(Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Christopher Cushing)