Naira gains on back of N619bn FG Bond maturity

Naira yesterday appreciated against the dollar, gaining N3.69k at the interbank foreign exchange market following the maturity of N619 Federal Government Bond issued two years ago, BusinessDay investigation indicates.

After trading yesterday, the naira closed at N313.65k against the greenback. This represents 1.16 percent compared with N317.34k it closed the previous day, data from FMDQ revealed.

Egie Akpata, director, Union Capital Markets, explained that the inflow of the liquidity into the market helped to bring down the overnight rate by 18.46 percent to 8. 21 percent on Tuesday, from 26.67 percent the previous day.

Open-Buy-back (OBB) also dropped to 7.17 percent yesterday as against 22.33 on Tuesday, representing 15.17 percent decline, FMDQ data show.

Akpata said there was significant Open Market Operation (OMO) yesterday by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), saying there would be bond auction today to raise about N110 billion.

At the parallel market, the naira fell slightly against the dollar by N1 as it closed at N394/$ yesterday, which is about 0.25 percent from N393/$ it closed the previous day. Naira remained stable at N385/$ at the autonomous market, BusinessDay finding indicates.