I & E FX market: Naira depreciates by 4.10% to N550.47/£

By Kayode Tokede

Naira at the Investors & Exporters Foreign Exchange (I & EFX) market on Thursday depreciated by 4.10 per cent to close at N550.47 against the pound sterling.

As the local currency at the I & EFX window lost by 3.77 per cent against the Euro to N476.44, it appreciated by 0.54 per cent against the dollar to close at N 407.80.

Our correspondent gathered that a turnover of $62.69million was traded by investors & exporters on Thursday.

At the parallel market, the Naira was flat against the pound sterling, euro and dollar to print at N655, N575 and N477 respectively.

Our correspondent gathered that Naira traded flat at N379 against the dollar at the Interbank market of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday

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.”

Money market rates rose today as Open Buy Back and Overnight rates inched up by 150basis points and 158basis points to close at 3.50 per cent and 3.83per cent respectively.

The bond market was largely muted on Thursday.

We witnessed the yields on the 7yr and 10yr benchmark bonds inch up by 52 basis points and two basis points closing at 10.41 per cent and 10.61 per cent respectively, while the 5yr benchmark bond was flat at  9.60per cent.

“In the near term, we expect market activity to be influenced by liquidity levels and foreign investor participation,” analysts at Investment One research added.