Sri Lankan five-day rupee forwards closed almost steady on Thursday as importer dollar demand offset the sale of the greenback 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 at 145.00/145.20 per dollar, compared with Wednesday's close of 144.90/145.20.
The spot rupee, which has not been active since January 27, did not actively trade on Thursday. But a state bank sold dollars at 143.90 per dollar for select trades. 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.