Oct 18 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan shares closed lower for the third straight session on Tuesday, hit by losses in industrial and communication service stocks.

* The CSE All-Share index settled down 1.31% at 8,866.05.

* Sri Lanka approved legislation on Tuesday to let companies from oil-producing nations import and sell fuel as it attempts to cope with a steep oil bill that deepened its worst financial crisis in decades.

* Sri Lanka's central bank on Monday reported manufacturing sector PMI to be at 42.6 index points in September, down by 7 index points as compared to August

* The services sector PMI was at 51.2 index points in September, down 0.5 index points as compared to August

* Expolanka Holdings Plc and Sri Lanka Telecom Plc were the top drags on the index, falling 2.8% and 4.9%, respectively

* Trading volume on the CSE All-Share index rose to 74.1 million shares on Tuesday, from 69.6 million shares in the previous session.

* The equity market's turnover was 1.87 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($5.15 million), according to exchange data.

* Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing 54.45 million rupees of shares, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 1.85 billion rupees, data showed.

* For a report on global markets, click ($1 = 363 Sri Lankan rupees) (Reporting by Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)