By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira yesterday put a pause to the losses it had been subjected to in the past days at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange market.
During the trading session, the local currency marginally appreciated against the Dollar at the FX window by 5 kobo equivalent to 0.01 percent to trade at N364.85/$1 compared with N364.90/$1 it traded at the Tuesday’s session.
This followed the decline in the demand for the dollar at the market segment. The total value of transactions at the investors segment on Wednesday dropped by 78 percent or $379.4 million to $104.28 million from $484.38 million.
At the parallel market, the performance of the Naira against the three major foreign currencies was flat as the domestic currency remained unchanged against the Dollar at N360/$1, against the Euro at N397/€1 and against the Pound Sterling at N475/£1.
Similarly, the Nigerian currency traded flat against the Dollar at the official window of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), also referred to the interbank segment, at N306.90/$1.
At the Bureaux De Change (BDCs) segment in Lagos, the Naira closed flat at N358/$1, but depreciated by N1 against the Pound to N475/£1 from N474/£1, and depreciated by N1.50k against the Euro to N396.50/€1 from N395/€1.
In Abuja, the local currency’s exchange rate against the greenback improved by 80 kobo to N358.20/$1 from N359/$1 on Tuesday, but closed flat against the Pound Sterling at N475/£1 and gained N1 against the Euro to N395/€1 from N396/€1 recorded on Tuesday.
At the Port Harcourt BDC market, the Naira closed flat against the Dollar on Wednesday to trade at N358/$1 and remained unchanged against the Pound and Euro at N475/£1 and N397/€1 respectively.
Likewise, at the Kano BDC market, traders sold the local currency at their previous rates against the three main foreign currencies. The Dollar was sold at N358, Pound at N472 and the Euro at N395.
Modupe Gbadeyanka