Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Last week was not too good for the Nigerian currency at the Investors & Exporters Forex Window as the Naira recorded a marginal loss of 0.03 percent.
This was amidst the weekly injections by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of $210 million into the foreign exchange market.
A breakdown of the intervention showed that $100 million was allocated to Wholesale (SMIS), $55 million allocated to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and $55 million given to the invisibles segment of the market.
According to analysts at Cowry Asset, the Naira/Dollar exchange rate, however, remained unchanged at the interbank foreign exchange market, the parallel (black) market and the Bureau De Change segments at N330/$, N363/$ and N360/$ respectively.
Meanwhile, most dated forward contracts at the interbank over-the-counter (OTC) segment appreciated amid a 0.55 percent w-o-w increase in external reserves to $46.75 billion – 1 month, 2 months, 3 months and 6 months contracts fell by 0.15 percent, 0.28 percent, 0.36 percent and 0.81 percent to close N363.19/$, N366.23/$, N369.41/$ and N379.75/$ respectively; while the spot rate depreciated by 0.02 percent to close N305.60.
This week, Cowry Asset expects stability in exchange rate amid further accretion to the external reserves as global oil prices retain its upbeat and CBN continues with the weekly intervention
