Market News
Naira gains Dollar falls further to N1,170 - BLOOMBERG
BY Hope Moses-Ashike
Naira on Monday gained further by 2.5 per cent as the dollar fell to N1,170 on the parallel market.
During the trading session on Monday, the dollar was quoted at N1,170, which was stronger than the N1,200 quoted on Friday.
Before strengthening to N1,200 per dollar on Friday, the naira had early last week hit a record low of N1,310 per dollar following strong demand on the parallel market, also known as the black market.
Traders attributed the naira appreciation to some government-announced policies, which have put speculators in an uncertain state.
Nigeria’s government plans to digitalise FX transactions and discourage speculative demands and hoarding of FX in cash.
The foreign exchange (FX) market ended the five trading days of last week with naira closing strong against the dollar across the market segments.
On day-to-day trading, the naira appreciated by 5.68 percent as the dollar was quoted at N789.94 on Friday compared to N837.49 on Thursday at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), data from the FMDQ indicated.
The FX market recorded significant dollar flows from willing buyers and willing sellers.
Consequently, the daily foreign exchange market turnover, which reflects the volume of transactions in the market, rose significantly by over 100 per cent (129.50%) to $259.84 million on Friday from $113.22 million on Thursday.
