The Naira opened the week strongly in its exchange rate tussle against the US dollar at the black market in the early hours of Monday, trading at an average of N758/$1, representing 0.26% appreciation from N760/$1 it exchanged at during Friday’s trading session.
FX traders in the black market partly attributed the local currency’s appreciation to the artificial scarcity occasioned by ongoing cash swap policy the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and its associated hiccups in banking transactions and lull in business activities due to the ongoing electioneering activities nationwide.
At the cryptocurrency Peer-to-Peer (P-2-P) exchange, the Naira also appreciated by 0.19% against the US greenback, trading at a minimum of N749.88/$1, compared to N751.3/$1 it exchanged at during the trading session last Friday.
Also, the local currency recorded 0.03% gain at the investors and exporters (I&E) window last Friday, trading at an average of N461.17/$1 compared to the N461.33/$1 it traded last Thursday
Available data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the official window’s FX supply on Friday indicated that the FX turnover increased by 39.02% to $153.3 million compared to the $110.27 million that exchanged hands in the previous day’s transactions.
During the trading session on Monday, the Naira opening indicative rate was N461.25/$1 while it exchanged at N462.03/$1 as the highest rate during intra-day trading session before it settled at N461.17/$1. The local currency traded for as low as N446/$1 during intra-day trading.
Meanwhile, the CBN reported that Nigeria’s external reserves level slightly fell to $36.71 on Thursday, slightly lower than the $36.72 billion that accrued to the reserves on Tuesday.
