The Sri Lankan rupee ended slightly firmer on Tuesday as dollar selling by a private bank, likely to defend the local currency, outpaced importer dollar demand, dealers said. The private bank might have sold the greenback on behalf of the central bank, some dealers said. Officials at the central bank were not available for comment on the matter.
The rupee ended at 143.90/144.00 per dollar, 0.07 percent higher from Monday's close of 144.00/20. "The (import) demand was there, but rupee ended firmer as a private bank sold dollars at 143.85," said a currency dealer, asking not to be named. The market, however, expects pressure on the rupee to ease due to a 150 basis points increase in the statutory reserve ratio of commercial banks from January 16 and on expected inflows from foreign deposits. The yield on 91-day t-bills has risen 40 basis points to a more than three-month high of 6.78 percent in three weekly auctions since the December 30 monetary policy announcement. Commercial banks parked 31.766 billion rupees ($220.6 million) of surplus liquidity on Tuesday using the central bank's deposit facility at 6 percent, official data showed.