By Sodeinde Temidayo David
Transactions at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange (forex) market last week depreciated by 6.5 per cent or $55.2 million to $795.95 million (approximately $796 million) from the previous week’s $851.1 million.
The data harvested from FMDQ Securities Exchange, which tracks transactions on the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Rate Fixing (NAFEX), indicated that the FX market segment was relatively quiet in the week.
The forex market in Nigeria has been undergoing a tough period because of a liquidity crisis, though it seems to be moderating in the past few days, especially due to the rise in the prices of crude oil, which is boosting Nigeria’s FX savings.
Business Post observed that the decline in the turnover last week was mainly influenced by the low transactions recorded last Monday and Friday.
At the first trading session of last week, the turnover stood at $90.36 million, the lowest in the month of October and at the last trading session of the week and month, transactions valued at $93.71 million was recorded.
Last Tuesday, the I&E FX window posted a turnover of $200.74 million and fell to $147.44 million at the midweek before rising on Thursday to $263.70 million.
Amid the fall in the forex transactions at the investors’ window, the exchange rate of the Naira to the Dollar at the market category was in favour of the former.
This was because the local currency depreciated week-on-week by 3 kobo or 0.01 per cent to N415.10/$1 from the preceding week’s N415.07/$1.
A breakdown of the performance of the domestic currency showed that it closed last Monday at N415.07/$1 and depreciated to N415.10/$1 the next day before appreciating to N415.07/$1 at the midweek trading session and declined to N415.10/$1 on Thursday and then closed flat a day after at N415.10/$1.
At the interbank segment, the Nigerian currency depreciated against its American counterpart in the week by 13 kobo or 0.03 per cent to trade at N411.09/$1 in contrast to N410.96/$1 it quoted in the previous week.
Adedapo Adesanya