Friday 28 September 2018

Sri Lanka rupee recovers from record low; stocks down amid foreign outflows

Reuters: The Sri Lankan rupee recovered on Friday to close firmer on central bank intervention after the currency touched its record low hit in the previous session, while shares fell for a second straight session amid foreign outflows.

** The rupee touched its all-time low of 169.40 per dollar hit on Thursday on importer demand for the greenback and foreign selling in government securities, but intervention by the central bank helped the currency close firmer, market sources said.

** The rupee ended at 169.15/30 per dollar, compared with the previous close of 169.35/55.

** The rupee has weakened 4.7 percent so far this month against the dollar after a 1.2 percent drop in the previous month, and has declined 10.2 percent so far this year.

** The Colombo stock index fell 0.12 percent to 5,862.18. The index hit its lowest close since Dec. 18, 2013 on Tuesday.

** Data from the central bank showed foreign investors sold government securities worth a net 8.8 billion rupees ($52.19 million) in the week ended Sept. 19, the highest since the week to Dec. 6. Sri Lanka has suffered a net outflow of 62.3 billion rupees in securities so far this year.

** Stock market turnover was 663.1 million rupees ($3.92 million) on Friday, less than this year’s daily average of 787.8 million rupees.

** Foreign investors sold a net 58.1 million rupees worth of shares on Friday, extending the year-to-date net foreign outflow to 5.83 billion rupees worth of equities. 

($1 = 169.0000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

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