Naira Falls Against Dollar at Parallel, BDC Markets

By Adedapo Adesanya 

Foreign exchange scarcity continues to bite hard at the parallel market, causing the Naira to dropped N5 against the US Dollar to trade at N455/$1 on Friday, May 15.

At the previous session on Thursday, the local currency had traded at N450/$1 at the same market segment.

Against the the Euro, the local currency was weakened by N5 to sell at N465/€1 in contrast to N460/€1 of the previous session.

However, the domestic gained N5 against the Pound at the parallel market to trade at N535/£1 compared with N540/£1 it traded at the preceding session.

At the Bureaux De Change (BDC) segment of the forex market, operators in Lagos market sold the Dollar for N452 compared with N446.50/$1 they traded the foreign currency on Thursday.

However, against the Pound and the Euro, they maintained the previous day’s exchange rates of N498/£1 and N440/€1 respectively.

In Abuja, the local currency shed N8 against the American currency to close at N448/$1 as against N440/$1 it was traded on Thursday. Against the Pound, it dropped N4 to sell at N542/£1 versus N538/£1 and fell by N23 against the Euro to N473/€1 from N450/€1.

At the Port Harcourt BDC market, the domestic currency lost N18 against the Dollar to sell at N448/$1 in contrast to the previous day’s N430/$1. Against the Pound, the Naira lost as much as N27 to close at N542/£1 compared with N515/£1 and against the Euro, it weakened by N23 to close at N473/€1 versus N450/€1.

Also, at the Kano market, the Nigerian currency lost N8 against its American ‘colleague’ to trade at N448/$1 compared with N440/$1 it sold on Thursday. It also shed N8 against the Pound to trade at N542/£1 as against N538/£ of the previous day and against the Euro, the Naira lost N5 to close at N473/€1 versus N468/€1.

However, at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the market, it was a different outcome as the Naira appreciated against the US Dollar by 58 kobo or 0.15 percent to sell at N386/$1 in contrast to N386.58/$1.

This was boosted by the decline in the demand for forex at the market, which resulted in a lower transaction value for the day.

Trades worth $18.55 million were executed at the I&E window on Friday, compared with $44.87 million achieved on Thursday, indicating a reduction by $26.32 million or 58.7 percent.

At the interbank segment of the foreign exchange market, the Naira remained unchanged against the United States Dollar at N361/$1.