The naira yesterday dropped against the US dollar by 40 kobo, closing at N158.32/$ as against N157.92/$ on Friday, data from the Financial Markets Dealers Association (FMDA) has revealed.
Olukunle Ezun, fixed income and currencies analyst, Ecobank Nigeria plc, told BusinessDay that the fall was due to increased demand for importation settlements. He said the demand for the greenback is continually higher than supply. This, according to him, is due to the fact that the country consumes more than it produces.
Meanwhile, the local currency
yesterday remained stable at the bureau de change and parallel markets closing at N158.5000/$, and N159.0000/$, respectively.
However, the CBN yesterday offered and sold $180 million at its bi-weakly Wholesale Dutch Auction System (WDAS) to some successful deposit money banks (DMBs) at the rate of N155.75/$.
On the other hand, Cowry Research Market Insight shows that Nigerian Money Market Liquidity tightened at the inter-bank market as banks made withdrawals to participate at the bi-weekly sales of forex by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as well purchase government instruments.
HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
