Rupee forwards end steady

Reuters: Five-day rupee forwards closed steady on Friday as importer dollar demand offset the greenback sales by exporters and inward remittances ahead of the Sinhala-Tamil New Year next week, dealers said.

The forwards, which are called spot next and act as a proxy for the spot currency, ended steady at 145.00/145.20 per dollar.

The spot rupee, which has not been active since 27 January, was not actively traded on Friday.

The Central Bank has fixed the spot rupee’s trading price at 143.90 through moral suasion, dealers said. Central Bank officials were not available for comment.

“There are remittances ahead of the New Year. But the import demand came in the latter part of the day,” a currency dealer said.

Sri Lanka will celebrate the Sinhala-Tamil New Year on 13 and 14 April.

One-week forwards, which were hovering near record lows last week, were not actively traded on Friday for the seventh straight session, dealers said.

The rupee has been under pressure due to foreign investors exiting government securities and the country’s economic woes.

Sri Lanka borrowed 25% more in 2015 than it did in 2014 due to high cost of refinancing loans raised by the previous government without parliamentary approval.