By Adedapo Adesanya
As the gradual reopening of Nigeria’s economic activities draws nearer, the Naira appreciated at the parallel or black market of the foreign exchange market on Thursday, April 30.
The local currency appreciated by N10 against the Dollar to close at N450/$ from N460/$ recorded on Wednesday.
The Naira gained N10 on the Pound yesterday to close at N510/£1 in contrast to N520/£1, while against the Euro, the domestic currency appreciated by as much as N20 to wrap at N445/€1 from N465/€1.
However, at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment on Thursday, the local currency depreciated by 0.22 percent or 85 kobo against the Dollar to trade at N387.30/$1 compared with N386.45/$1 it traded the previous day.
Business Post gathered that the value of transactions at the market segment was higher than the previous session.
Trades valued at $83.41 million were recorded on Thursday at the I&E window compared with $13.52 million on Wednesday. This indicated a 517 percent or $69.89 million rise.
A look at the Bureaux De Change (BDC) segment of the market showed that the value of the Naira to the Dollar depreciated by N1 in Lagos to N462/$1 from N461/$1. Also, the local currency shed N10 on the Pound in Lagos to trade at N530/£1 compared with N520/£1 and fell by N11 on the Euro to close at N481/€1 as against N470/€1 the previous day.
At the Port Harcourt BDC market, the value of the Nigerian currency to its United States counterpart was flat at N457/$1. However, it was a sad story for the domestic currency against the Pound as the value went down by N62 to close at N570/£1 from N508/£1 and against the Euro, it closed flat at N460/€1 on Thursday.
In Abuja, the local currency exchange rate closed flat against the Dollar, Pound and Euro at N457/$1, N498/£1 and N440/€1 respectively.
It was a similar situation at the Kano BDC market, where a lockdown has been declared for two weeks due to Coronavirus disease. The Naira traded flat against the Dollar, Pound and Euro yesterday at N457/$1, N498/£1 and N440/€1 respectively.
A look at another segment of the forex market yesterday, the interbank, showed that the Naira further remained unchanged against the greenback at N361/$1.
Dipo Olowookere