By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Naira closed mixed at the major segments of the foreign exchange (forex) market in the country at the last trading day of 2019.
During the session on Tuesday, December 31, 2019, the local currency maintained stability against the United States Dollar at the interbank segment, exchanging at N307/$1 at the close of business.
In the same vein, the domestic currency remained unchanged against the American currency at the parallel market, trading at N362/$1 at the New Year eve trading day as it did at Monday’s session.
However, the Naira put up a poor performance against the British Pound Sterling and the Euro at the black market yesterday, depreciating against the two foreign currencies at the close of business.
As the year came to a close, heavy market activities on Tuesday depressed the Naira against the Euro by N3 to quote at N398/€1 in contrast to N395/€ it had appreciated to at the previous session.
Also, the local currency suffered a N1 loss at the parallel market yesterday against the United Kingdom currency to trade at N473/£1 compared with N472/£1 it was sold on Monday.
The UK is getting prepared to leave the European Union by the end of this month and analysts have predicted that the Pound Sterling will continue to perform better that other currencies at the FX market.
Another look at the performance of the Naira at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window on Tuesday showed that things were okay.
The Nigerian currency appreciated by 0.04 percent equivalent to 15 kobo against the United States currency at the segment to settle at N364.51/$1 compared with N364.66/$1 it was quoted on Monday.
This was spurred by the decline in the demand for forex at the market during the session. The market turnover dropped yesterday by 41.6 percent equivalent to $33.85 million to $47.51 million from $81.36 million recorded on Monday.
Dipo Olowookere