The Sri Lanka rupee closed flat at 132.40/45 against the US dollar after opening at 132.35/40 in the spot-next market, where settlement is made three days ahead, dealers said.
In the spot market, the rupee was at 132.25/35 against the greenback with bank under moral suasion to keep the rate at 132.25 levels, dealers said.
The five year Treasury bond yield was quoted around 11.91/94 percent with no foreign selling gilts apparent, dealers said. Up to September 11 foreign holdings of gilts had fallen to 479 billion rupees from 503 billion from end July.
The benchmark Colombo All Share Price Index closed 4.52 points lower at 5,700.74, down 0.08. Year-to-date, the ASPI was up 1.0 percent.
The S&P SL20 closed 4.03 points lower at 3,157.87, down 0.13 percent. Year-to-date the index was up 2.3 percent.
Turnover was 700.12 million rupees, down from Rs. 913 million on Tuesday, in a day that 82 stocks gained and 75 firms lost ground.
Foreigners bought 561 million rupees of shares, while selling only 200 million rupees of shares. The previous day, foreigners sold 695.18 million rupees of shares and bought Rs. 23.46 million worth of shares.
Ceylon Tobacco Company, closed 32.4 rupees lower at 1,046.80 rupees and Nestle closed 25.1 rupees lower at 1,975 rupees.
Lion Brewery closed 10.60 rupees lower at 389.40 rupees and Distilleries was down 2.0 rupees to close at 178 rupees.
Sri Lanka Telecom closed 1.4 rupees higher at 39.90 rupees and Asian Hotels and Properties gained 3.20 rupees to close at 68.70.
JKH closed 20 cents higher at 212 rupees.