Naira gains as dollar falls to N455

Nigeria’s currency is appreciating in value, gaining N5 on Tuesday morning as the dollar has fallen to N455 as against N460 traded on Monday on the black market.

With current rate, naira is gaining N25 when compared with N480 traded last week at the parallel market.

The naira appreciation followed the plan by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to resume dollar sales to the Bureau De Change (BDC) operators next week.

Investigation shows that as at 9.40am, today’s rate was not available but some traders were selling at N455 per dollar.

However, the rate is expected to change later today, with the naira either firming up further or weakening, depending on the forces of demand and supply.

In some parts of Lagos, dollar is trading at N465 and N460, while buying rate is put at N450, further investigation revealed.

At the BDC segment of the foreign exchange market, naira firmed to N466 per dollar on Monday afternoon from N470/$ in the morning.

The CBN on Thursday, August 27, informed the general public that gradual sales of foreign exchange (FX) to licensed BDC operators would commence with effect from September 7, 2020.

The local currency on Tuesday signalled appreciation by N0.47k as the foreign exchange market opened with an indicative rate of N386.03k from N386.50k opened with on Monday last week at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window, data from FMDQ showed.

At the I&E FX window, trading volume remained low due to tightened system liquidity. Analysts at FSDH Research said the resumption of FX sales to BDCs is expected to inject more liquidity into the retail segment of the FX market.

Naira remained stable at N385.67 per dollar on Monday as most participants maintained bids between N380.00 and N386.00 per dollar.

The foreign exchange daily turnover improved by 18.86 percent to $14.37 million on Monday from $12.09 million recorded on Friday last week.