COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan rupee rose against the dollar on Friday as exporter dollar sales outpaced late importer demand, while dealers expect the currency to be stable throughout the year after the central bank chief's comments.
The rupee closed at 130.18/20 per dollar, slightly stronger than Thursday's close of 130.19/22.
"There was late importer dollar demand. But the rupee is firmer on inflows and the appreciating trend is intact," a currency dealer said on condition of anonymity.
Central bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said at a foreign correspondents forum on Wednesday that it would intervene in the market to keep the rupee stable.
Cabraal said Sri Lanka's foreign exchange market was thin and the intervention was mainly because the central bank did not want the market to get disturbed with a single transaction, "whether an inflow or outflow".
Dealers said the two state banks, through which the central bank usually intervenes in the market, were not actively seen in the market.
The central bank has absorbed $1.09 billion from the market this year through Wednesday, a central bank official said recently, to keep the rupee steady and prevent sharp appreciation as well as excess volatility in the rupee.
Offshore investors bought a net 1.81 billion rupees worth of government securities in the week ended Aug. 20.
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