Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The first trading day of the new week at the various segments of the foreign exchange (forex) market ended with the Naira closing in different directions on Tuesday, November 12, 2019.
At the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the market, the local currency appreciated against the United States Dollar by 17 kobo or 0.07 percent to trade at N362.50/$1 compared with N362.67/$1 recorded at the last session on Friday.
The market was closed on Monday as a result of the public holiday declared by the federal government of Nigeria in commemoration of Id-el Maulud to celebrate the birthday of Prophet Mohammed.
During yesterday’s trading session, the turnover recorded at the investors window was higher than the previous trading day. The market closed Tuesday with transactions worth $805.92 million versus $466.82 million at the last session, indicating a 72.6 percent rise equivalent to $339.1 million.
Meanwhile, at the interbank window of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Naira remained unchanged as it ended Tuesday’s session at N306.90/$1, while at the parallel market, the local currency also closed flat at N360/$1.
However, It was a different ball game for the Naira against the Euro black market as the former gained N2 against the latter to close at N398/€1 on Tuesday in contrast to N400/€1 recorded at the previous session.
This could be attributed to rising US bond yields which market analysts said has helped keep the Euro under pressure.
However, the Nigerian currency closed flat against the British Pound Sterling on Tuesday as the Naira was quoted at N465/€1 at the same segment of the forex market yesterday.
The British currency had gained mostly on the grounds of the Brexit factor which had seen the pounds go stronger. The latest news showed that the Pound rallied on the news that the Conservative Party would not face Brexit Party candidates in existing seats ahead of the December elections.
As a result of this Investors, believe that a Conservative majority would ensure a deal is passed relatively soon after a new Parliament sits, putting to an end months of uncertainty.
