Naira steadies against dollar as investors record $202.75m turnover
Motolani Oseni
The Nigerian currency, Naira at the official foreign exchange market remained unchanged at N306.95 per Dollar on Thursday, as Investors & Exporter Forex (I & EFX) window recorded total transactions turnover of $202.75 million.
The official forex market, otherwise known as the interbank market is the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) official rate and was seen at the close of yesterday trading activities the same rate it traded on the first trading day of the week, which was, however, lower than N306.90 it stood last Friday.
But at the Investors & Exporter Forex (I & EFX) window, the Naira close at N360.80 to the dollar and gained 1.24per cent and 0.41per cent against the pounds and Euro to close at N470.42 and N404.39 respectively.
At the parallel market, the local currency closed at N360, N475 and N406 against the Dollar, Pounds and Euro respectively.
The Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN noted the relative volatility in oil prices and its impact on accretion to reserves which could easily undermine the stability observed in the foreign exchange market.
Although, analysts believed that the foreign exchange market will continue to see support from CBN’s intervention sales.
Meanwhile, the money market rates decreased today as Open Buy Back and Overnight rates declined from 15.14per cent and 15.50per cent to close at 10.07per cent and 10.71per cent respectively.
The decline in rates may be due to the maturity of N22billion worth of Open Market Operation bills as well as N619billion inflows from FAAC allocation which could have improved system liquidity.
The bond market was positive today with yields declining across most maturities. While the yields on the 5yr and 7yr benchmark bonds closed flat at 14.47per cent and 14.35 per cent, the yield on the 10yr benchmark bond rose by 5bps to close at 14.14 per cent.
