April 8 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan shares closed lower for a third consecutive session on Friday, hurt by losses in financials and consumer staples stocks, as investors awaited the central bank's monetary policy meeting outcome later in the day as the country grapples with the worst economic crisis in decades.

* The CSE All-Share index settled 1.39% lower at 8,135.25 points. For the week, the index fell 3.97%.

* The Central Bank of Sri Lanka is expected to raise key interest rates by as much as 400 basis points (bps) following a 100 bps rise in early March.

* The debt-laden country currently faces shortages of food, fuel and medicines and prolonged power cuts as it struggles to pay for imports of fuel and other goods due to a scarcity of foreign exchange.

* Sri Lanka's foreign exchange reserves have plunged some 70% in the past two years, hitting $1.93 billion at the end of March.

* The equity market turnover was 1.25 billion rupees ($4.03 million), compared with 1.46 billion rupees in the previous session.

* Trading volume fell to 58.4 million shares from 72.6 million shares in the previous session.

* Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing shares worth 53.6 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading 1.23 billion rupees worth of shares, exchange data showed.

* On the CSE All-Share index, LOLC Finance and food retailer Cargills (Ceylon) were the biggest drags, declining 2.5% and 7.9%, respectively.

* For a report on global markets, click ($1 = 310.0000 Sri Lankan rupees) (Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra ELuri)