Naira remains stable at parallel market

The Naira on Thursday traded flat at N360.5 to the dollar at the parallel market in Lagos. The Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N469 and N408 respectively.

At the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment, the naira traded at N360 to the dollar, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro was sold at N469 and N408 respectively.

Trading at the investors’ window saw the naira closing at N363.03 to a dollar, while market turnover stood at 231.46 million dollars.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has continued to inject liquidity to the market in defence of the naira with the latest being the sum of $289.76million into the retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) and CNY38.70 million in the spot and short-tenored forwards segment of the inter-bank foreign exchange (FX) market.

The Director, Corporate Communications Department at the CBN, Isaac Okorafor, confirmed the figures, noting that the dollar-denominated interventions were for transactions in the agricultural and raw materials sectors.

While reiterating the Bank’s support to the inter-bank FX market, he disclosed that the Bank’s management was pleased with the level of stability at both the Bureau-de-Change (BDC) and the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) window of the FX market.

Okorafor, expressed confidence that the FX market in Nigeria would continue to enjoy stability in the coming months and beyond, given the marginal increase in the country’s external reserves.

The CBN had on Tuesday, January 17, 2019, intervened in the wholesale, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and invisibles windows of the interbank FX market to the tune of the sum of $210 million.