Naira, Nigeria’s currency is now (as of Monday) being exchanged with the dollar at N532 as demand pressure heightens at the unofficial foreign exchange market.
The current rate shows a 0.38 percent drop compared to N530/$ closed on Friday according to data from abokifx.com which many investors regard as the clearest mirror of the free market rates.
Naira has continued to depreciate against the dollar at the unofficial market since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stopped dollar sales to the Bureau De Change (BDC) operators over foreign exchange contraventions.
The CBN pushed and increased dollar supply to banks to meet the legitimate needs of end-users across the country.
Such legitimate needs include Business Travel Allowance (BTA), Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), school fees and medicals.
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At the Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window, Naira appreciated by 0.09 percent as the dollar was quoted at N411.13 on Monday as against the last close of N411.50 on Friday, data from the FMDQ indicated.
Currency traders who participated in the trading session on Monday maintained bids at between N400.99k and N412.53k per dollar.
The foreign exchange market daily turnover declined by 23.50 percent to $97.54 million on Monday from $127.51 million recorded on Friday.
At the money market on Monday, the Nigerian Treasury bills secondary market closed on a flat note, with the average yield across the curve remaining unchanged at 4.61 percent, a report by the FSDH research stated.
Average yields across short-term, medium-term, and long-term maturities closed flat at 3.00 percent, 4.00 percent and 6.19 percent, respectively.
The Overnight (O/N) rate decreased by 5.00 percent to close at 8.50 percent as against the last close of 13.50 percent on Friday and the Open Buy Back (OBB) rate also decreased by 5.00 percent to close at 8.00 percent compared to 13.00 percent on the previous day.
In the Open Market Operation (OMO) bills market, the average yield across the curve increased by 1 basis point to close at 6.22 percent on Monday as against the last close of 6.21 percent. Selling pressure was seen across the medium-term maturities with the average yields rising by 1 basis point.
However, the average yields across short-term and long-term maturities remained unchanged at 5.92 percent and 6.58 percent, respectively. OMO 29-Nov-21 maturity bill selling pressure with a yield increase of 9 bps, while yields on 22 bills remained unchanged.
