Naira retains strength as CBN T-Bills gain 0.33%

The Nigerian Naira on Wednesday, February 7, retained its strength against the United States of America Dollar at the parallel segment of the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market.

The local currency remained strong against the greenback at the parallel market closing at the rate of N363 on Wednesday.

The Naira also maintained strength against the British Pound Sterling, exchanging at the rate of N510. Against the European Single Currency, Euro the Naira appreciated to close at the rate of N446.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has pumped 210 million dollars into the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market to meet customers’ requests in various segments of the market.

Acting Director, Corporate Communications of the apex bank, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, who gave a breakdown of the amount in Abuja on Monday, said that the wholesale segment of the market received 100 million dollars, while Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segment received 55 million dollars.

He said customers requiring foreign exchange for tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) among others, were also allocated 55 million dollars.

Meanwhile, the treasury bills market was closed on a bearish note on Tuesday following massive selloff witnessed in the short tenured instruments, just as the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, conducted another Open Market Operations, OMO, exercise.

During the auction, the apex bank sold N21 billion of the N30 billion worth of the 191-day bill it offered for sale to investors. The bill cleared at 14.40 percent.

However, the N10 billion worth of the 93-day bill offered at 12.60 percent received no subscription from traders at the market.

Average T-bill yields on Tuesday appreciated by 33 percent, but may drop today as more activities are expected at the market, Business Post reports.

Analysts at Zedcrest Capital predict a bullish market on Wednesday as investors anticipate inflows from OMO maturities tomorrow.

Similarly, the money market rates increased sharply yesterday as the central bank mandated lenders operating in the country with balances at the Standing Lending Facility (SLF) window to fund their positions or risk having their bills rediscounted.

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This put further pressure on market which opened at just N20 billion positive.

At the close of business on Tuesday, the overnight rate jumped to 37.42 percent from 19.33 percent, while the open buy back rate jumped to 35.80 percent from 18.40 percent.