The Sri Lankan rupee ended slightly weaker on Friday as dollar demand from importers outpaced selling of the US currency by exporters, dealers said. The spot rupee ended at 152.70/80 per dollar, compared with Thursday's close of 152.65/75. "There was commodity-related (dollar) demand and there were not many conversions," said a currency dealer requesting anonymity. The rupee has been under pressure since January after the central bank stopped defending the currency and started buying dollars to build up the country's depleted foreign currency reserves.
The island nation saw 17.7 billion rupees ($115.91 million) of net inflows into equities this year as of Friday's close, and 17.3 billion rupees worth inflows this year into government securities as of September 20, official data showed.