Naira gains 0.21% to close at N411.13/$
By Kayode Tokede
Naira gained 0.21 per cent at Investors & Exporters Foreign Exchange ( I & EFX) window on Wednesday to close at N411.13 against the Dollar.
The Naira also gained by 0.26per cent and 0.19per cent against the Euro and Pound Sterling to close at N486.39 and N567.99 respectively.
Naira had depreciated further against the Dollar to a record low at the I& E FX window on Tuesday to close at N412 to a dollar. This represents a 12 kobo decline when compared to N411.88/$1 recorded on the previous trading day.
A turnover of $36.92 million was traded by investors and exporters, according to the FMDQ.
At the parallel market, while the Naira closed flat against the Dollar and Pound Sterling at N484 and N675 respectively, it gained 0.34per cent to close at N578 against Euro.
Naira at official rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) remained flat at N379 against the Dollar.
Meanwhile, the money market rates increased today as Open Buy Back and Overnight rates rose by 142basis points and 100 basis points to close at 11.67per cent and 12.50 per cent respectively.
The bond market was somewhat positive on Wednesday as yields declined on some maturities.
While the yield on the 7yr benchmark bond closed flat at 10.10per cent, the yield on the 5yr benchmark bond was down by 142 per cent to close at 8.55per cent.
Conversely, the yield on the 10yr bond inched up 8bps to 10.47 per 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.
In addition, the country’s foreign reserves continued its decline as it dropped by 0.29per cent on Monday, 8th March 2021 to stand at $34.74, being its highest daily decline in over 10 days.
The country’s external reserve declined from $34.84 billion recorded last week Friday to stand at $34.74 billion as of 8th March 2021.
It is worth noting that Nigeria’s external reserve has depleted to its lowest position in 10 months, which was as of 11th May 2020 when the reserve was at $34.66 billion.
The CBN has however introduced a “Naira4Dollar” scheme in favour of diaspora Nigerians who are seeking to send in money into Nigeria. This is aimed at ensuring that remittance flows and diaspora investments become a significant source of external financing.
