Naira Drops To N762 Per Dollar As Liquidity Drops At FX Market
Naira Drops To N762 Per Dollar As Liquidity Drops At FX Market
By: JP Ashedzi
The Nigerian currency, Naira on Thursday reportedly fell to N762.71 per dollar, losing 3.32 percent value against the dollar as liquidity dropped at the official foreign exchange (FX) market.
The volume of transactions at the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) forex window dropped by 49.58 percent to $85.79 million on Thursday from $170.15 million recorded on Wednesday.
After trading on Thursday, the dollar was quoted at $762.71/$1 as against N738.18 quoted on Wednesday at the official FX market data from the FMDQ indicated.
FX dealers maintained bids as high as N799.90/$1 on Thursday, stronger than N800/$1 bid on Wednesday. At the lower end they bid at N720/$1, lower than N701/$1 recorded on Wednesday and Tuesday.
At the parallel market, also known as black market on Thursday, naira steadies at between N920and N925 at the various street trading areas across the country.
The money market Overnight (O/N) rate decreased by 0.40 percent to close at 2.60 percent compared to 3.00 percent on the previous day, and the Open Repo (OPR) rate decreased by 0.68 percent to close at 1.90 percent compared to 2.58 percent on the previous day, according to a report by FSDH Research.
Nigeria treasury bills (NT-Bills) secondary market closed on a flat note on Thursday with the average yield across the curve closing flat at 6.72 percent. Average yields across short-term, medium-term, and long-term maturities remained unchanged at 3.12 percent, 5.82 percent, and 9.43 percent, respectively.
The report noted that FGN bonds secondary market closed on a mildly positive note on Thursday, as the average bond yield across the curve cleared lower by 2 bps to close at 14.20 percent from 14.22 percent on the previous day.
