By Dipo Olowookere
Last week, the Nigerian Naira appreciated week-on-week (w-o-w) against the US Dollar at the Investors & Exporters Forex Window (I&E FXW) by 0.39 percent to close at N361.16 amid a 13.76 percent w-o-w increase in turnover to $778.96 billion at the I&E FXW as at Thursday, July 12, 2018.
The local currency meanwhile closed flat against the US Dollar at the Bureau De Change segments and the parallel (black) market at N358/$ and N361/$ respectively on sustained special intervention by CBN.
The Naira/$ rate also closed flat at the interbank foreign exchange market at N330/$ amid weekly injections by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of $210 million into the foreign exchange market via the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS); of which $100 million was allocated to Wholesale (SMIS), $55 million was allocated to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and $55 million was sold for invisibles.
Meanwhile, most dated forward contracts at the interbank over-the-counter (OTC) segment further appreciated – 1 month, 2 months, 3 months and 6 months contracts lost 0.47 percent, 0.58 percent, 0.72 percent and 1.43 percent to close N364.34/$, N367.61/$, N370.91/$ and N382.26/$ respectively; however, spot rate depreciated by 0.03 percent to close N305.80/$.
Meanwhile, analysts at Cowry Asset said, “This week, we expect stability in the exchange rate at most market segments as CBN continues its weekly SMIS intervention coupled with the special intervention at the BDC segment to boost liquidity.”
Modupe Gbadeyanka