Sri Lanka five-day rupee forwards end steady

Sri Lankan 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 January 27, 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.