The Sri Lankan rupee ended marginally higher on Friday as inward remittances surpassed importer dollar demand, dealers said. The spot rupee ended at 145.48/53 per dollar, compared with Thursday's close of 145.50/57, while one-week rupee forwards ended at 145.65/73, compared with the previous close of 145.65/70. "Today there were some inward remittances," a currency dealer said, asking not to be named.
After leaving the key policy rates steady, central bank Governor Indrajith Coomaraswamy said on Tuesday that the currency was not under upward pressure as capital inflows had not been of sufficient magnitude to exert such pressure. Net foreign inflows into government securities jumped more than 32 percent to 304.1 billion rupees ($2.09 billion) through August 31, according to the latest central bank data, since the IMF loan approval.