Naira at I& E FX market trades flat amid holiday
By Kayode Tokede
Naira at Investors & Exporters Foreign Exchange (I& EFX) on Wednesday remained flat following the ederal overnment declaration of two days holiday to mark the end of Muslim fasting.
The local currency at the I& EFX on Tuesday lost 0.14per cent and 0.21per cent against the Dollar and Pound sterling to close at N411.25 and N580.71 respectively, it closed flat against the Euro printing at N499.39.
At the parallel market the Naira remained flat against the Pound sterling and Dollar at N673 and N483 respectively, while it depreciated by 0.17 per cent against the Euro to close at N581.
However, the naira fell marginally against the U.S dollar at the I&E window of the foreign exchange market on Monday as foreign exchange supply plummeted significantly.
According to data posted on the FMDQ Security Exchange window where foreign exchange is officially traded, the local currency (naira) closed at N410.67 at the trading session of the NAFEX window on Monday.
The performance on Monday represents N0.34 or 0.08 per cent depreciation from N410.33, the rate it traded in the previous session on Friday last week.
This came to be as foreign exchange supply nosedive significantly. The forex turnover decreased by 77.74 per cent, with $32.61 million recorded as against the $146.52 million posted in the previous session on Friday last week.
The naira touched an intraday high of N401.10 and a low of N422.00 before closing at N410.67 on Monday.
The last time the domestic currency hovered around N410.00 and above was on May 7 last week.
However, the naira remained unchanged against the Dollar at the unofficial market on Monday, data posted on abokiFX.com, a website that collates parallel market rates in Lagos showed.
Data posted showed that the naira closed at N483.00 at the black market, the same rate it traded in the previous session on Friday last week.
Based on the status of the currency at the forex markets as stated above, the spread between the parallel market and the official market exchange rate is pegged at N72.33 which translates to a gap of 14.96per cent.
Meanwhile, the Money market rates on Tuesday increased as the Open Buy Back and Overnight rates rose by 50bps each closing at 15.00 per cent and 15.50 per cent respectively.
The bond market was somewhat quiet today as yields remained unchanged across most tenors. Consequently, we witnessed the yields on the 5yr, 7yr and 10yr benchmark bonds close flat at 12.70 per cent, 13.10 per cent and 13.31 per cent respectively.
