By Cowry Asset
In the just concluded week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) injected $195 million into the interbank foreign exchange market.
In the wholesale segment of the market of the interbank market, CBN auctioned $100 million, $50 million went to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the Invisibles segment received $45 million.
Despite the inflows, the Naira depreciated week-on-week (w-o-w) at the Interbank and Bureau De
Change market segments by 3.13% and 0.27% to N330/USD and N367/USD respectively.
However, the Naira strengthened at the Investors & Exporters Forex Window (I&E FXW) by N0.42 to N359.56/USD.
At the parallel market, the local currency remained stable w-o-w. Dated forward contracts at the interbank OTC segment suggested likely appreciation of the Naira amid relatively high foreign exchange reserves – external reserves stood at USD31.55 billion as at Friday, August 18, 2017.
The spot and 3 months forward contracts depreciated w-o-w by 0.03% and 0.23% to N305.80/USD N378.44/USD respectively.
The 6 months and 12 months however appreciated w-o-w by 0.03% and 0.01% to N398.52/USD and
N435.63/USD.
This week, we expect CBN’s continued intervention in the interbank segment, increasing investor confidence and consistent build-up in external reserves to lead to further stability of the Naira/USD exchange rate.