Naira pressure moderates as forex market closes over Democracy Day

 It is expected that the pressure on naira will moderate this week as the forex market window closes on Wednesday, the Democracy Day, thus putting less pressure on the external reserves, analysts from Cowry Asset Management Limited have said.

Naira on Friday strengthened against the US dollar, gaining 25 kobo at the inter-bank market to close at N158.10/$ as against N158.35/$ the previous day.

Analysts attributed the appreciation of naira to increased supply of the greenback which actually met demand by end users.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) offered a total of $600 million but sold $545.45 million to authorised dealers, representing an 8.75 percent increase from sales in the preceding week.

However, the local currency appreciated at both the bureau de change and parallel market by 0.31 percent (or N0.50) each to N159/$ and N159.50/$, respectively. 

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE