The Naira lost its exchange rate gain momentum on Tuesday to trade at an average of N740/$1 at the black market, representing 0.27% devaluation from N738/$1 it exchanged at on Monday.
Information sourced from Bureaux De Change (BDC) dealers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), indicated that FX supply in the parallel FX market remained low even as demand was unimpressive.
Also, the local currency also depreciated against the Euro to trade at N810/€1 on Tuesday, representing a dip in exchange value of 0.25% when compared to the N808/€1 it traded in the preceding day’s trading session.
But then, the Naira firmed up in its exchange rate against the Pound Sterling in the day under review, appreciating by a 0.11% to trade at an average of N932/£1, compared to the N933/£1 it exchanged at in the previous day’s trading session.
Similarly, data from the cryptocurrency Peer-to-Peer (P-2-P) exchange market reflected that the local currency recorded a marginal appreciation of 0.03% to trade at a minimum of N744.77/$1, from N745/$1 that it recorded in the previous trading session.
Investment analysts noted that the US dollar started the week under pressure as traders await US loans data from the US inflation data expected to be released on Wednesday 10th May 2023.
It would be recalled that the Naira opened trading for the year at an average rate of N736/$1 in the parallel market, recorded its strongest exchange rate at N775/$1 on 20th February 2023 and its lowest deal at N730/$1 on 5th January 2023.
In furtherance of its mandate, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has consistently been supplying dollars to FX traders at the parallel and official window markets to stabilize the local currency’s exchange rate against major foreign currencies.
However, due to issues related to FX round tripping among the BDC dealers, the apex bank ended FX supply to the operators sometime in year 2020 to avoid further abuses of its interventions in the FX market.
