Sri Lankan shares ended over 1% lower on Wednesday, dragged down by industrial and financial stocks, as the island nation awaited a bailout package and amid weaker global markets ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates.

* The CSE All-Share index ended down 1.5% at 7,772.08, their worst one-day percentage drop since June 7.

* Representatives from heavyweight financial and legal advisers Lazard and Clifford Chance arrived in Sri Lanka to kick off the restructuring of over $12 billion in debt, the island nation's prime minister said on Tuesday.

* Sri Lanka, an island-nation of 22 million people, is suffering from its worst economic crisis since 1948.

* An IMF delegation will visit Sri Lanka on June 20 for talks as the country looks for a loan to deal with its economic crisis, the prime minister's office said last week.

* Trading volume rose to 50.6 million shares from 43.1 million shares in the previous session.

* Sri Lanka markets were closed on Tuesday due to a public holiday.

* The equity market turnover on Wednesday was 1.12 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($3.13 million), data showed.

* Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading 155.4 million Sri Lankan rupees worth of shares, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing 965.2 million Sri Lankan rupees worth of shares, according to exchange data.

* Asian markets were in a pensive mood on Wednesday as shell-shocked investors waited to see just how aggressive the Fed would be on rates.

* For a report on global markets, click ($1 = 358.0000 Sri Lankan rupees) (Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)


Reuters