The Sri Lankan rupee closed firmer on Friday due to heavy inward remittances and as a bank sold dollars for a stock-related transaction, dealers said. The spot rupee, which was traded at 153.34 per dollar during the day, ended at 153.22/28 per dollar, compared with Wednesday's close of 153.30/38. Sri Lanka's markets were closed on Thursday for a Buddhist holiday.
The island nation had seen 19.9 billion rupees ($129.90 million) of net inflows into equities this year as of Friday's close, and 29.1 billion rupees worth inflows into government securities as of September 27, official data showed.