By Dipo Olowookere
It was a positive week for the local currency at the Investors & Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange market.
This is because the Naira appreciated slightly by 0.02 percent at the forex window week-on-week (w-o-w) against the US Dollar to close N361.
This marginal growth occurred amid 15.09 percent week to date increase in turnover to $906.02 million at the I&E FXW as at Thursday, June 21, 2018.
Meanwhile, the local currency closed flat against the greenback at the parallel market and the Bureau De Change segments at N362/$ and N360/$ respectively on sustained special intervention by CBN.
The Naira/Dollar rate also remained unchanged 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 $55 million was sold for invisibles.
Meanwhile, all dated forward contracts at the interbank over-the-counter (OTC) segment appreciated – spot rate, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months and 6 months contracts gained 0.02%, 0.10%, 0.20%, 0.30% and 0.80% to close N305.80/$, N364.34/$, N367.65/$, N370.85/$ and N382.52/$ respectively.
This week, Cowry Asset expects 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.
