COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan rupee ended steady on Thursday amid importer dollar demand and some foreign outflow from t-bonds, but banks were reluctant to trade below the 144.00 level desired by the central bank, dealers said.
"There was demand for dollars. We have also seen some foreign investors selling bonds," a dealer said asking not to be named. Another dealer said there was importer dollar demand and nobody was trading the spot rupee below 144.00.
The spot rupee ended flat at 144.00/20 per dollar.
The rupee forwards and swaps were actively traded on Thursday for a second straight session.
Dealers said the one-week forward, which acted as a proxy for the spot currency, ended at 144.45/55 per dollar compared with Wednesday's close of 144.30/50.
The rupee is under pressure despite a 150-basis-point increase in commercial banks' statutory reserve ratio from Jan. 16. The central bank kept its key policy interest rates unchanged on Monday.
Commercial banks parked 39.8 billion rupees ($277.97 million) of surplus liquidity on Thursday using the central bank's deposit facility at 6 percent, official data showed.
The central bank's net holding of government securities decreased by 22.639 billion rupees on Thursday, official data showed.
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