COLOMBO: Sri Lankan rupee forwards ended weaker on Monday due to importer dollar demand, while the spot rupee was not traded, with dealers saying the central bank prevented banks through moral suasion from trading the cash currency above 130.70.
The three-day forwards, actively traded in the absence of spot, ended at 130.85/95 per dollar, compared with Friday's close of 130.80/85.
"Importer dollar demand is there, but people are reluctant to buy the spot currency because of the moral suasion," a currency dealers said on condition of anonymity.
The spot currency was neither traded nor quoted. It ended at 130.60/80 on Friday.
Dealers said the market was waiting for cues from the 2015 budget, to be presented on Oct. 24.
The central bank held the key policy rates steady as expected before the market opened on Friday, a day after its head said a reversal of the falling trend in t-bill yield was a signal of where the authorities want rates to be.
The central bank, at its policy rate announcement on Friday, said short-term money market rates have broadly stabilised, while long-term lending rates are adjusting downwards after some initial volatility in the domestic money market in response to the monetary policy measures taken in September.
Overseas investors sold a net 29.4 billion rupees ($225.3 million) worth of government securities in the four weeks through Oct. 15, data from the central bank showed.
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