By Adedapo Adesanya
The first day of the new month of August didn’t bring good tidings for the Naira at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (forex) market in Nigeria.
This was because the local currency depreciated by 71 Kobo against the Dollar yesterday, trading at N362.23/$ in contrast to the N361.68/$ it was exchanged on Wednesday at the market window.
This bearish trend extended to the daily market turnover on Thursday, dropping to its lowest level since January 2019. At the close of transactions yesterday, the turnover recorded was $64 million.
Looking at the interbank segment of the market, the Naira traded against the Dollar unchanged, closing at N306.85 against an American Dollar, the same rate it was quoted the previous session.
At the parallel market yesterday, the Naira continued to see no movement, remaining flat at N360 to a single Dollar, the same rate it has traded since the beginning of this week.
However, it was a different ball game for the Naira against both the British Pound and Euro as the local currency appreciated against both foreign currencies at the close of trading on Thursday.
The Naira appreciated by N3 against the British Pound on Thursday to trade at N452/£ against the N455/£ it transacted the previous day.
Also, the local currency gained N2 against the Euro yesterday, trading at N398/€ at the end of the trading period on Thursday, different from the previous day’s N400/€.
Dipo Olowookere