• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Naira records marginal depreciation at official market

Naira loses 0.67% against dollar as trading week ends

Naira on Wednesday recorded marginal depreciation against the dollar following a low activity level at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window, Nigeria’s official foreign exchange market.

After trading on Wednesday, naira fell 0.06 percent as the dollar was quoted at a rate of N437.50/$ compared to N437.25/$ quoted on Tuesday at the I&E or Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Rate Fixing (NAFEX) window.

Most traders who participated at the foreign exchange auction on Wednesday maintained a bid at N460 (high) and N425 (low).

The daily foreign exchange market turnover declined by 34.94 percent to $70.42 million on Wednesday from $108.24 million recorded on Tuesday, data from the FMDQ indicated.

At the parallel market popularly called black market, the local currency closed unchanged at N735 per dollar as demand slows.

Read also: Stock market drops further by 0.09%

In the last month, the naira has depreciated by 3.97 percent in the parallel market. It traded at N704/$ at the beginning of September to N732/$ this week, according to a report by the y Financial Derivatives Company (FDC).

At the money market segment of the financial market, the Overnight (O/N) rate remained unchanged at 16.75 percent, and the Open Repo (OPR) rate remained unchanged at 16.25 percent.

The Nigerian Treasury bills (NT-Bills) secondary market closed on a flat note on Wednesday with the average yield across the curve closing flat at 7.13 percent.

A report by FSDH Research noted that average yields across short-term, medium-term, and long-term maturities closed flat at 5.82 percent, 6.82 percent, and 8.02 percent, respectively. NTB 9-Feb-23 (-1 basis point) maturity bill witnessed mild buying interest.

In the Open Market Operation (OMO) bills secondary market, the average yield across the curve closed flat at 10.96 percent. Average yields across medium-term and long-term maturities remained unchanged at 10.90 percent and 11.09 percent, respectively. OMO 7-Mar-23 (-1 basis point) maturity bill witnessed mild buying interest.