Dipo Olowookere
By Cowry Asset
In the just concluded week, the local currency appreciated week-on-week at the I&E FX window by 0.08% to N360.36/USD while it closed steady at the interbank foreign exchange market segment and the Bureau De Change at N330.0/$ and N361/$ respectively amid sustained intervention by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) made injections worth $210 million into the foreign exchange market of which $100 million was allocated to Wholesale (SMIS), $55 million was allocated to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and $55 million was sold for invisibles.
However, the Naira weakened against the Dollar at the parallel (black) market by 0.27% to N365/$ amid increased demand by end users.
Meanwhile, dated forward contracts at the interbank OTC segment appreciated amid sustained increase in the foreign exchange reserves – the 1 month, 2 months, 3 months and 6 months contracts appreciated w-o-w by 0.10%, 0.28%, 0.47% and 0.48% to close at N364.85/$, N369.20/$, N373.69/$ and N389.41/$ respectively.
This week, we retain our favourable outlook for the exchange rate amid sustained stability in global crude oil prices which should result in further build-up in foreign reserves as well as CBN’s continued intervention in the various segments of the interbank foreign exchange market.
