After trading on Tuesday the dollar was quoted at N463.44,
gaining 0.05 percent compared to N463.67 quoted on Thursday last week at the
Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window, Nigeria’s official foreign
exchange market.
Most currency dealers who participated at foreign exchange
market auction on Tuesday maintained bids between N458.04 (low) and N466.00
(high) per dollar.
The daily foreign exchange market turnover declined by 55.17
percent to $62.69 million on Tuesday from $139.85 million recorded on Thursday.
At the parallel market, also known as black market, naira
remained steady at N738 per dollar.
Last week, the Naira traded on a quiet note as it held
grounds from the previous week to close at N738/USD from N738/USD in the
previous week at the black market.
At the investors’ and exporters’ FX window, the Naira edged
out the United States’ dollar by N0.33 or 0.1 percent week on week to close at
N463.67/USD from N464/USD the previous week traders maintained bids between
N462 and N465 on the back of lower demand for the greenback, a report by Cowry
Asset Management Limited stated.
The report noted that at the interbank foreign exchange
forward contracts market, the spot exchange rate remained unchanged at
N462/USD.
“Also, in our analysis of the Naira/USD exchange rate at the
weekly Naira FX Forward Contracts Markets, it was the dollar reign across major
forward contracts with depreciations reported for the Naira at the 2-Month,
3Month and the 6-Month Contracts by 0.14 percent, -0.82 percent, and -0.61
percent respectively to close at offer prices of N479.11/USD, N489.86/USD and
N516.33/USD week on week. On the other hand, the Naira gained by 0.11 percent
and 0.30 percent week on week for the 1-Month and 12-Month contracts to close
at contract offer prices of N468.68/USD and N560.79/USD,” analysts at Cowry
Asset said.
In the oil market last week oil price movement continued its
retreat motion during the week to trade at $80 per barrel on demand concerns
which have outweighed the supply-side concerns as was majorly reinforced by the
heightened expectations for further rate hikes by the Fed.
However, on the home front, data from the CBN data bank
showed that the Bonny Light crude price surged by 0.32 percent or (USD0.28)
week on week, to close at USD88.15 per barrel from USD87.87 per barrel in the
previous week amidst the tightening supply, expected Fed rates hike, persistent
worries on oil demand and the market volatility due to price oscillations.
“We expect the naira to trade in a relatively calm band
across various market segment barring any market distortion and as the apex
bank continues its weekly FX market intervention to defend the value of the
naira, next week, ” the analysts said.