By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira put up a poor performance at both the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and the Interbank segments of the foreign exchange market on Friday, September 13, 2019, as it depreciated against the US Dollar.
At the interbank market of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the nation’s currency was traded at N306.90 to a Dollar in contrast to N306.85 it was exchanged on Thursday.
This indicated that the value of the local currency was weakened against the American currency at the market window by 5 Kobo or 0.02 percent during yesterday’s trading session.
It was a similar situation at the I&E segment of the market as the Nigerian currency depreciated by 9 kobo or 0.02 percent to close at N362.04/$ against the N361.95/$ it traded on Thursday.
It was observed by Business Post that at the investors window of the forex market on Friday, the turnover significantly went up by 267 percent or $295.65 million to $406.41 million from $110.76 million recorded in the previous session.
This development put pressure on the local currency at the market yesterday, resulting in the weakening of the Naira against the US Dollar. Findings showed that investors demanded for more forex yesterday to complete their business transactions.
However, at the parallel market, the local currency remained flat against the US Dollar as it closed at N360 to a Dollar, the same rate it was exchanged in the previous trading day.
It also remained unchanged against the Pound Sterling at the black market on Friday to sell at N450/£. The Naira had lost N4 at the parallel market on Thursday against the British currency.
However, the Naira did not perform well at the same parallel market against the Euro. For the second day after the European Central Bank reduced its deposit rate to a record low 0.5 percent from 0.4 percent, the domestic currency dropped to N396/€ on Friday after a loss of N1 at the session.
Dipo Olowookere