Naira Gains N5 Against Pound Sterling, Sells at N472

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira put up a strong performance against the British Pound Sterling at the parallel market segment of the foreign exchange market on Monday, December 30, 2019.

The local currency appreciated against the currency used by nations under the United Kingdom at the black market yesterday by N5 to trade at N472/£1 compared with N477/£1 it quoted at the previous session.

Business Post reports that this was the first major appreciation the Nigerian currency was recording against the Pound Sterling after the general election in the UK on December 12, 2019.

The local currency also performed well against the Euro at the parallel market on Monday, getting fortified by N3 at the close of transactions to exchange at N395/€1 in contrast to N398/€1 it was trade last Friday.

However, after depreciating to N362 per Dollar at last Friday’s session, the Nigerian currency remained flat against the greenback at the same segment yesterday.

Meanwhile, at the interbank segment of the market, which is the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regulated Naira/USD exchange rate, the Naira remained unchanged at N307 against the Dollar.

However, at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment, the Naira depreciated further by 0.02 percent or 9 Kobo to trade at N364.66/$1 compared with N364.57/$1 it traded at the previous session.

This occurred despite a drop in value of turnover on Monday by 74.5 percent or $237.17 million as investors exchanged a total of $81.36 million in contrast to $318.53 million worth transacted at the segment last Friday.