By Adedapo Adesanya
The local currency appreciated by 20 kobo or 0.06 per cent against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (forex) market on Friday, October 2, closing at N385.80/$1 in contrast to N386/$1 it ended at the segment on Thursday.
This marginal strengthening of the domestic currency at the I&E window happened despite the higher demand for the greenback yesterday.
At the close of the session, traders exchanged a total of $102.02 million, 34.5 per cent or $26.19 million higher than the $75.83 million traded at the preceding session.
Business Post reports that at the interbank segment of the forex market, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold the Dollar to commercial banks on Friday at the same official Naira/Dollar exchange rate of N379.
At the parallel market, forex sellers maintained the Naira/Dollar exchange rate of N465/$1. The value of the local currency against the Pound and the Euro remained unchanged on Friday at N600/£1 and N545/€1 respectively.
At the Bureaux De Change (BDC) segment of the market, the Naira closed flat against the Dollar at N386/$1 in Lagos. However, it appreciated by N5 against the British currency to N593/£1 from N598/£1 and also gained N3 against the Euro to N540/€1 from N543/€1.
In Port Harcourt, the local currency was flat against the US Dollar at N386/$1 but gained N1 against the Pound to N593/£1 from N594/£1 and traded flat against the Euro at N540/€1.
The Naira/USD exchange rate at the Abuja BDC market remained unchanged at N386/$1 on Friday. It also remained flat against the Pound and the Euro at N596/£1 and N547/€1 respectively.
Likewise, at the Kano BDC market, the local currency retained its previous rates against the Dollar, Pound and Euro at N386/$1, N598/£1 and N548/€1 respectively.
Dipo Olowookere