The foreign exchange market on Wednesday resumed after the holiday marking the New Year celebration, with the nation’s currency depreciating by N0.41k against the U.S dollar.
After trading on Wednesday, naira closed at N364.41k per dollar, losing 0.11 percent compared to N364.00k/$ traded on Monday, the last trading day for 2018, as the investors and exporters forex window data from FMDQ indicated.
However, the local currency appreciated marginally at the Central Bank official window by 0.02 percent as it closed on Wednesday at N306.95k per dollar from N307.00k traded since December 27, 2018.
At the parallel market, naira closed at N362 per dollar, gaining about N1.00k compared to N363 traded on Monday.
The CBN has been intervening in the market by selling dollar to various segments of the market to boost liquidity in order to meet foreign exchange demand by end users.
For instance, the Apex bank on December 27, 2018, intervened in the inter-bank sector of the foreign exchange market, injecting $210 million in the wholesale segment and other sectors of the market.
The breakdown of that intervention indicated that the Wholesale sector of the market got another injection of $100 million, while the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and invisibles sectors each received $55 million.
Isaac Okorafor, director, corporate communications department at the CBN, said the forex interventions, in continuation of the Bank’s resolve, were aimed at sustaining the high level of stability in the Forex market and continually easy access to the currency by customers in the different sectors.
HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
