Naira holds steady as CBN kicks off 2018 with N58.4bn T-bills sales

The Nigerian currency, on Wednesday, December 3, maintained strength against the United States of America Dollar, at the Parallel Segment of the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market.

Against the greenback, the naira closed at N363, while the British Pound Sterling traded at the rate of N485 to one naira and the Euro traded at N427.

The stability comes as a result of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN’s relentless interventions with the injection of forex into the currency market just before the 2017 market year ended.

The naira had closed at N363 against the dollar at the black market on Tuesday, same rate it traded for on the last trading day of 2017.

The local currency, had hovered around 365 against the Greenback for some months, before rising to N364, as the festive period approached and finally closed the year at the rate of N363.

 Meanwhile, the CBN commenced the first trading day of 2018 with the sale of N58.4 billion worth of treasury bills via the Open Market Operations (OMO).

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The exercise was conducted to mop up excess liquidity in the system as the CBN regularly does as the regulator of the banking industry in Nigeria.

The market had resumed from the New Year break yesterday, but it was relatively quiet as traders anticipate the sale of T-bills at the primary market today.

At the close of transactions on Tuesday, the apex bank sold 865 million worth of the 79-day bill at 12.75 percent, and N57.50 billion worth of the 198-day bill at 14.55 percent stop rate.

The market is expected to be very active on Wednesday (today) as investors get involved in the treasury bills sale at the primary market.

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