By Adedapo Adesanya
The shortage of Dollar at the foreign exchange (forex) market in Nigeria crumbled the Naira at the parallel market on Tuesday.
Business Post reports that the local currency crashed against the US Dollar yesterday by N5 to trade at N480/$1 in contrast to Monday’s rate of N475/$1 at the same market segment.
Also at the black market, the domestic currency lost N5 against the British Pound Sterling on Tuesday, August 18 to trade at N610/£1 compared to N605/£1. However, it remained flat against the Euro during the trading session at N550/€1.
At the Bureaux De Change (BDC) segment of the forex market, the Nigerian currency depreciated against the Dollar in Lagos by 50 kobo to quote at N475.50/$1 compared to N475/$1 it traded previously.
The local currency lost N2 against the Pound to sell at N610/£1 compared to N608/£1 and also depreciated by N5 on the Euro to N550/€1 from N545/€1.
However, in the capital city of Abuja, the value of the local currency rose by 50 kobo from N475/$1 to N474.50/$1 and depreciated against the Pound by N5 to N610/£1 from N605/£1 and then closed flat against the Euro at N550/€1.
In Port Harcourt, the Naira appreciated against the greenback by 50 kobo to sell at N474/$1 as against the previous day’s N474.50/$1. However, on the Pound, the Naira returned flat at N603/£1 but gained N4 on the Euro to close at N546/€1 versus N550/€1.
At the BDCs market in the city of Kano, the Naira traded flat against the Dollar, Pound and Euro at N475/$1, N595/£1 and N548/€1 respectively.
Meanwhile, at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the market, the Naira dropped 20 kobo or 0.05 per cent on the Dollar at N385.98/$1 in contrast to the previous N385.78/$1.
This was despite a 9.03 per cent or $1.83 million decline in the day’s turnover to $18.44 million from $20.27 million recorded on Monday.
A look at the interbank segment of the market showed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) still auctioned the Dollar to commercial banks at N381.
Dipo Olowookere