By Adedapo Adesanya
After four straight sessions of depreciation, the Naira recovered about 32 kobo on the United States Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (forex) market on Friday, March 6, 2020.
Business Post reports that the gains achieved by the domestic currency yesterday was influenced by an ease in the demand for forex at the market segment.
According to data obtained from FMDQ, the demand for FX moderated by 53 percent or $386.19 million on Friday as transactions worth $346.21 million happened at the session compared with $732.40 billion on Thursday.
At the close of business, the local currency settled at N366.25 against the American currency in contrast to N366.57 to a Dollar it was traded the previous trading day, indicating a 0.09 percent growth.
A look at another segment of the market, the Bureaux De Change (BDC) window, showed that the Nigerian currency gained 10 kobo against the Dollar at the Lagos BDC market to sell at N358/$1 compared with N358.10/$1 it traded previously. However, it traded flat against both the Euro and the British Pound at N395/€1 and N469/£1 respectively.
In Abuja, BDC operators exchanged the Naira to the Dollar at the previous rate of N357.80/$1. The domestic currency also remained unchanged in the city against the Pound at N470/£1 and against the Euro at N395/€1.
In Kano, the Naira/USD rate closed flat at N358/$1. It further remained unchanged against the Pound Sterling and the Euro at N472/£1 and N395/€1 respectively.
The case was not different at the Port Harcourt BDC market, where authorised forex dealers sold the Naira to a Dollar at Thursday’s closing price of N358/$1. This was extended to the two other major foreign currencies at the market, the Pound and Euro, where quoted at N475/£1 and N397/€1 respectively.
At the parallel market, the domestic currency remained unchanged against the US Dollar at N360/$1. The Nigerian currency also traded flat against the British currency at N473/£1, but lost N1 on the Euro to sell at N398/€1 in contrast to N397/€1 it previously traded.
Business Post reports that the official exchange rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) also referred to the interbank segment remained at N307/$1.
