Naira gains marginally to close at 409/$ at I&E FX window

Motolani Oseni

The Nigerian local currency, Naira at the Investors & Exporters Foreign exchange (I & E FX) market on Monday gained slightly by 0.21 percent to close at 409.13 against the dollar.

The closing figures obtained from the FMDQ showed that the naira had closed at N410/$1 at the Investors and Exporters window when the market closed trading activities on Friday.

According to the FMDQ, a total transaction turnover of $30.84million was recorded at the special window on the first trading day of the week.

However, trading at the parallel market remained flat at N485/$1, maintain the N1 gain posted last Friday when compared to N486/$1 that was recorded in the previous trading day and all through last week.

Consequently, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) official interbank rate remained unchanged at N379 against the dollar.

According to analysts at Investment One research stated that “Going forward, we expect the FX market to be dictated by heightened dollar demand and CBN FX policies.”

Money market rates increased today with Open Buy Back and Overnight rates rising by 150 basis points and 225 basis points to 12per cent and 13 percent respectively.

The bond market was slightly positive today, particularly at the short end of the curve. Notwithstanding, we witnessed yields on the 5-year, 7-year, and 10-year benchmark bonds close flat at 9.85 percent, 10.50 percent, and 10.72 percent respectively.