COLOMBO: Sri Lankan rupee forwards ended a tad firmer on Tuesday as inflows from strong remittances and exporter dollar sales surpassed importer demand for the greenback, dealers said.
Actively traded two-week forwards ended at 133.75/80 per dollar, compared with Monday's close of 133.78/85.
One-week forwards, however, ended steady at 133.60/70 per dollar due to the moral suasion by the central bank to prevent them from falling below 133.60.
"We see very strong inflows from remittances, but there was some importer dollar demand also," a currency dealer said on condition of anonymity.
Dealers expect the downward pressure on the currency to ease with a pick-up in seasonal inward remittances ahead of the Sinhala-Tamil New Year on April 14.
They expect seasonal inward remittances to continue until the first week of April.
The central bank through moral suasion prevented the spot rupee from dropping below 132.90/133.20, a limit it set in February.
Central bank officials were not available for comment.
Dealers said the market may wait for cues on interest rates after T-bill yields fell for two straight weeks. A weekly T-bill auction is scheduled on Tuesday.
Yields on T-bills fell between 17 and 19 basis points at a weekly auction on Wednesday, after falling between 31 and 44 basis points the previous week.
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