Naira appreciates at black market

Naira strengthened against the U.S dollar at the unofficial market on Thursday, data posted on abokiFX.com, a website that collates parallel market rates in Lagos, showed.

However, the domestic currency fell slightly at the official market.

Naira closed at N485.00 at the black market on Thursday, this represents N1.00 or 0.21 per cent appreciation from N486.00, the rate it exchanged hands with the greenback in the previous session on Wednesday.

Slight devaluation

Meanwhile, the local unit fell slightly against the U.S dollar at the I&E window of the foreign exchange market on Thursday, data posted on the FMDQ Securiteis Exchange where forex is officially traded showed.

Naira, Africa’s most populous country’s currency, closed at N409.30 at the trading session of the I&E window. This represents N0.63 or 0.15 per cent devaluation from N408.67 the rate at which it closed at the previous session on Wednesday.

The Naira experienced an intraday high of N401.10 and a low of N413.00, before closing at N409.30 on Thursday.

This occurred as turnover increased slightly by 0.51 per cent, with $35.55 million recorded as against the $35.37 million posted on Wednesday.

As a result of this, the spread between the unofficial market and the I&E window exchange rate is pegged at N75.70, which translates to a gap of 15.61 per cent.