Naira trades at N795 per dollar in black market

Naira on Monday exchanged with the dollar at N795, which was lower by N1/$1 than N794 exchanged on Friday at the parallel market, also known as black market.

One trader at CMS said the naira depreciation was due to a slight rise in dollar demand by end users, saying there might be further weakening of the naira as demand continues to increase.

The first foreign exchange market (FX) trading week in July began bearish for the naira as it depreciated by N19.20 or 2.48 percent week-on-week (w/w) to N792.20/$1 from N773/$1 at the parallel market as FX market and traders continue reacting to the forces of demand and supply, analysts at Cowry Asset Management Limited said.

At the Investor and Exporters (I&E) foreign exchange (FX) market, naira depreciated by14.27 percent as the dollar was quoted at N776.90 on Friday as against the previous close of N762.63, data from the FMDQ indicated.

The naira depreciation followed a 25.53 decline in the daily FX market turnover, which dropped to $73.42 million on Friday from $98.60 million recorded on Thursday.

Week-on-week, at the investors and exporters FX window, the naira lost N7.65 or 0.99 percent w/w against the United States dollar to close at N792.20/$1 from N773/$1 last week, despite funds inflow. This comes as traders continue to position themselves in a bid to ascertain the fair value of the naira, the analysts said.