Investors, exporters trade $78.88m FX in 2 days
By Kayode Tokede
Investors & Exporters traded a total foreign exchange of $78.77million in two days, according to the FMDQ Exchange.
According to FMDQ, a $30.84million and $47.93million was traded on Monday and Tuesday respectively.
However, the Naira gained by 0.03per cent, 0.58per cent and 0.64per cent against the Dollar, Pound Sterling and Euro closing at N409.00, N559.19 and N477.69 respectively at the I & E FX window on Tuesday.
At the parallel market, the Naira closed down against the Dollar, Pound Sterling and Euro by 0.21 per cent, 0.15per cent and 0.52 per cent at N486, N678 and N578 respectively.
Our correspondent gathered that Naira at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) inter-bank market traded flat at N379 against the Dollar.
According to analysts at investment one research, “Going forward, we expect the FX market to be dictated by heightened dollar demand and CBN FX policies.”
The money market rates decreased today with Open Buy Back and Overnight rates falling by 567 basis points and 583bps to 6.33 per cent and 7.17 per cent respectively.
The bond market was slightly positive on Tuesday, particularly at the short end of the curve.
Notwithstanding, the yields on the 7-year and 10-year benchmark bonds close flat at 10.50 per cent and 10.72 per cent respectively, while the yield on the 5-year bond was up by 20basis points to close at 9.85 per cent.
“In the near term, we expect market activity to be influenced by liquidity levels and foreign investor participation,” according to analysts at investment one research.
Meanwhile, the CBN has disclosed its foreign reserves closed March 29, 2020 at $34.76million.
The foreign reserves increased by 0.06per cent on Friday 26th, March 2021 to stand at $34.67 billion.
This represents the sixth consecutive day increase, gaining a total of $230 million from $34.42 billion recorded as of March 18, 2021, to $34.67 billion as of 26th March 2021.
The foreign buffer had lost about $980 million year-to-date before recording increases in the past six days, which indicates that the recent oil price rally is beginning to reflect in the country’s external reserve.
It is important for Nigeria that the increase continues as it will help the Central Bank stabilise the exchange rate against other currencies and meet up with pent-up obligations due to the lockdown embarked on in 2020.
