Naira Appreciates by 0.38% at Interbank

By Dipo Olowookere

The local currency appreciated last week against the Dollar by 0.38 percent at the interbank segment of the foreign exchange market.

At the close of the trading week, the Naira settled at N361.45/$ at the interbank window amid weekly injections of $210 million by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) into the forex market via the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS).

A breakdown of the injection indicated that $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, despite this intervention, the local currency depreciated at the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment by 0.28 percent to close N360/$.

At the Investors & Exporters forex window (I&E FXW), the Naira appreciated by 0.03 percent to close at N363.74/$, while the local currency remained unchanged at N362/$ at the parallel market.

Meanwhile, most dated Naira/Dollar foreign exchange forward contracts at the interbank over-the-counter (OTC) segment appreciated.

According to Cowry Asset, the 1-month, 2-month, 3-month and 6-month contracts gained 0.17 percent, 0.22 percent, 0.17 percent and 0.19 percent to close at N366.64/$, N369.89/$, N373.43/$ and N384.25/$ respectively.

However, spot and 1-year FX contract depreciated by 0.02 percent and 0.25 percent to close N306.60/$ and N412.90/$ respectively.