Naira firms against dollar on CBN’s intervention

The nation’s currency, the naira, yesterday firmed up significantly against the US dollar, gaining 85 kobo at the inter-bank market to close at N158.90/$ as against N159.75/$ on Friday, data from Financial Markets Dealers Association have revealed.

Analysts attributed naira appreciation to CBN’s meeting up with dollar demand and expectation of inflows from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The CBN yesterday offered and sold a total of $300 million to 20 deposit money banks that participated at its bi-weekly Wholesale Dutch Auction System (WDAS) at N155.75/$.

However, naira remained stable at official, bureau de change and parallel markets closing at N155.75/$, N160,00/$ and N160.50/$, respectively.

Money market yesterday experienced liquidity squeeze as the Nigerian Inter-Bank Offered Rates (NIBOR) increased across tenor buckets.

For instance, call tenor climbed to 10.91 percent from 10.25 percent on Friday. Similarly, 7 days and 30 days tenor increased to 11.33 percent and 11.83 percent from 10 66 percent and 10.91 percent, respectively, on Friday.