By Sodeinde Temidayo David
The total turnover recorded last week at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange (forex) market increased by 49.0 per cent or $261.5 million.
According to the data tracked during the week by Business Post from the FMDQ Securities Exchange between Monday, August 23 and Friday, August 27, the total value of trades on the I&E segment amounted to $795.12 million compared with the preceding week’s $533.64 million.
This has been the highest weekly turnover so far in the month of August.
It was observed that the major increase in the turnover was driven by the trades recorded last Friday as investors rushed out to move their funds and ended up transacting $216.5 million.
It was noted last Monday, which was the first trading session for the week, the total value of transactions stood at $173.64 million but went down the next day to $77.46 million and at the midweek session, it rose to $180.19 million but again fell to $147.31 million last Thursday.
The average FX turnover recorded for the week was $159.02 million in contrast to the $106.73 million achieved in the previous week.
Looking at the performance of Naira against the US dollar at the investors’ window, it depreciated by 0.08 per cent or 33 kobo week-on-week to N412.00/$1 from N411.67/$1 in the preceding week.
The weakening of the local currency at the FX market window must have been caused by the rise in the demand for forex in the week.
Last Monday, the local currency traded at N411.83/$1 and appreciated to N411.04/$1 on Tuesday. The next day, it depreciated to N412.00/$1 and strengthened back to N410.88/$1 last Thursday before crashing to N412.00/$1 at the close of the week.
At the interbank segment of the market, the Nigerian currency lost 0.03 per cent or 13 kobo against the American Dollar to close at N410.26/$1 versus the previous week’s N410.13/$1.
At the unregulated market, the local currency depreciation N4 or 0.77 per cent against the US Dollar to close at N524/$1 last Friday in contrast to N520/$1 it traded at the previous Friday.
