The Naira sluggishly opened the week on Monday in sustained efforts to strengthen its exchange rate against the US dollar, trading at an average of N751/$1 compared to the N750/$1 it traded last Friday, representing 0.13% depreciation during the trading session.
Some FX traders in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) partly linked the slight depreciation of the local currency to the lingering lull in economic activities in the country over the past few weeks.
However, despite its unimpressive performance at the parallel market, the Naira marginally appreciated by 0.07% against the US dollar at the cryptocurrency Peer-to-Peer (P-2-P) exchange market, to trade at N743.29/$1 as against the N743.8/$1 it traded on Friday.
Similarly, the Naira recorded a slight gain of 0.04% at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window last Friday, to close at N461.83/$1 as against the N462/$1 it traded last Thursday.
Data sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the I&E window’s FX turnover on Monday reflected that it decreased by 10.20% to $87.81 million from the $97.78 million that exchanged hands at the window the previous day
According to the CBN, the local currency’s opening indicative rate at the I&E window on Monday was N461.3/$1 while it exchanged at N462.24/$1 as the highest rate during intra-day trading session before it settled at N461.83/$1. The Naira traded lowest at N460/$1 during the intra-day trading session.
Meanwhile, the apex bank reported that Nigeria’s external reserves marginally dropped to $36.02 billion as of last Thursday, 16th March, from the $36.08 billion that accrued to the reserves last Wednesday, 15th March this year.
