By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira finished weaker against the US Dollar at the parallel market on Monday, October 12 by N3 or 0.66 per cent, Business Post reports.
During the trading session, the value of the Nigerian currency against its American counterpart depreciated to N460/$1 from the previous session’s N457/$1.
But at the same segment of the foreign exchange (forex) market yesterday, the value of the domestic currency over the British Pound Sterling was strengthened by N5, closing at N590/£1 compared with N595/£1 of the previous day and lost N1 on the Euro to settle at N538/€1 as against the preceding session’s N537/€1.
At another segment of the market, the Investors & Exporters (I&E), the local currency depreciated against the greenback by 17 kobo or 0.04 per cent to end the day at N386/$1 versus N385.83/$1 it was sold previously.
This weakening of the value of the Nigerian Naira at the market segment came despite a decline in the day’s turnover as a transactions worth $102.35 million were recorded on the first trading session of the week in contrast to the $134.83 million recorded at the preceding trading day, indicating a decrease in the day’s turnover by 31.7 per cent or $32.48 million.
At the interbank segment of the market, it was observed that the exchanage of the Naira to the Dollar remained unchanged as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) auctioned FX to commercial banks yesterday at N379/$1.
The stability withnessed at the interbank window yesterday spread to the Bureaux De Change (BDC) segment, where the exchange rate of the Naira to the Dollar also closed flat at N386/$1 on Monday.
No much pressure is expected on the local currency this week as the CBN is expected to continue to maintain the supply of forex into the market to keep the liquidity smooth.
However, there are fears over the recent gradual decline in the country’s external reserves, though the apex bank has allayed fears of Nigerians, maintaining that with the recent policies put in place, Nigeria was capable of meeting the demands of customers.
Data obtained by Business Post from the central bank showed that as at last Thursday, the amount in the FX purse stood at $35.725 billion compared with $35.732 billion the previous day.
Dipo Olowookere