Naira gains 2.47% despite dollar supply drop

The naira started the month of August on a positive note, gaining 2.47 per cent of its value despite a drop in dollar supply at the official foreign exchange (FX) market on Thursday.

The FX market remained open for business, while bank branches closed their doors on the first day of the hunger protest across the country.

After trading on Thursday the dollar was quoted at N1,570 as against N1,608.73 quoted on Wednesday at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), according to the data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited.

The dollar supplied by the willing sellers and willing buyers declined by 47.45 per cent to $142.32 million on Thursday from $270.81 million recorded on Wednesday.

During the intraday trading, FX market participants quoted the dollar at the high rate of N1,631 on Thursday compared to N1,645, while the intraday low closed at N1,551 on the same day from N1,399.04 per dollar quoted on Wednesday.

The local currency lost N5 as the dollar traded for N1,615 on Thursday from N1,610 closed on Wednesday on the parallel market also known as the black market.

BusinessDay visited several bank branches and found that all the banks at the popular Mazamaza and Alakija locations were closed. Meanwhile, small businesses and some commercial buses were operating intermittently.

Hope Moses-Ashike

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.