Sri Lankan rupee gains on workers’ remittances

Sri Lanka’s rupee closed a tad firmer on Friday on light inflows from workers’ remittances and low importer dollar demand a day after the island nation’s treasury secretary forecast the currency would strengthen to at least 125, dealers said. The rupee closed at 130.00/130.10 a dollar, edging up from Thursday’s close of 130.10/130.30. It hit a record low of 131.60 on Monday mainly due to importer demand for greenbacks for the upcoming April festive season. “There were some inward remittances and some export conversions. They wanted to covert when they see that the rupee is stabilising,” said a currency dealer on condition of anonymity.    However, many dealers were skeptical of a rupee recovery, since the central bank has been absorbing all the dollars coming into the country to boost its foreign exchange reserves.   The rupee has fallen 12.1 per cent since the central bank stopped defending a specific price on Feb. 9. The stock market rose more 1.36 per cent or 72.63 points to hit 5,422.33 ending forth straight session losing streak as investors picked up shares of conglomerate John Keells holding. Shares in Keells rose 1.94 per cent to 194.80 rupees a share.