July 21 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan shares inched lower on Tuesday, as losses in consumer staples and industrial stocks weighed on gains in the communication services sector.
** The benchmark CSE All Share Index closed down 0.09% at 5034.45.
** Shares of Ceylon Cold Stores Plc and telecom company Dialog Axiata Plc rose 2.1% and ~1% respectively, and were among the top boosts on the index.
** Ceylon Tobacco Company and Lion Brewery (Ceylon) were the top drags, declining ~1.1% and 3.8% each.
** Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading 359.9 million Sri Lankan rupees ($1.94 million) worth of shares, according to exchange data.
** Trading volume fell to 29.7 million from 102.8 million in the previous session, while equity market turnover was about 984.4 million rupees.
** The Sri Lankan rupee was last quoted at 185.75 against the U.S. dollar by 12:40 GMT according to Refinitiv data.
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** For a report on major currencies, click ($1 = 185.7500 Sri Lankan rupees) (Reporting by Philip George in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
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