By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira ended weaker against the Pound Sterling at the parallel market on Monday, October 21, 2019, going down by N5 against the British currency to trade at N460/£1 compared with N455/£1 it was exchanged last Friday.
This came as the Sterling hit its highest levels against the Dollar yesterday since May 13, and was near a 5-and-a-half-month high against the Euro as markets bet the UK Prime Minister now had the numbers to pass a Brexit deal.
Mr Boris Johnson needs 320 Members of Parliament (MPs) to back his deal when it is first put to the House of Commons on Tuesday in the form of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB).
The WAB is the legislation required to enact the Brexit deal and the government is expected to proceed by first presenting the ‘programme motion’ required to pass the WAB through parliament.
A look at the performance of the Naira against the other foreign currencies at the black market yesterday showed that the local currency was also dealt a huge blow against the Euro.
At the close of transactions on Monday, the domestic currency also went down by N5 against the Euro to quote at N397 against the N402/€1 it closed at the previous trading day. However, the Naira remained unchanged yesterday at N360 against the US Dollar at the same market window.
At the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment, the Naira appreciated by 0.08 percent or 29 Kobo to trade at N361.92/$1 compared with the N362.21/$1 it traded at the previous session on Friday.
During the trading session, the total turnover depreciated by 47.8 percent or $121.16 million as investors transacted a total of $132.44 million in contrast to $253.60 million exchanged at the segment last Friday.
At the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s interbank segment of the foreign exchange market, the local currency remained flat on Monday at N306.90/$1.
Dipo Olowookere