Naira sees big fall against dollar

Naira plunged against the U.S. dollar on Monday with a 0.60 per cent depreciation at the official market.

According to FMDQ, where forex is officially traded, the naira which opened trading at N417.30 closed at N421.50 to a dollar at the close of business on Monday.

This implies N2.50 or 0.60 per cent devaluation from N419.00 it exchanged hands with the greenback currency Friday, last week.

This is the second lowest level the naira exchanged officially with the dollar in five months after closing at N422.67 to a dollar on January 5, early this year, and the first time it stretched across the N417.00 and N419.00 and above benchmark it has been trading in the past four months.

The naira reached an intraday high of N410.00 and slipped to a low of N444.00 before closing at N421.50 per $1 on Monday.

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Forex turnover plummeted by 58.3 per cent with $70.68 million recorded at the close of business on Monday against the $169.38 million posted in the previous session last week Friday.

Similarly, the local currency touched N600.00 mark at the parallel market on Monday.

In Uyo, currency dealers exchanged the naira at N595.00 and sold within the range of N596.00 and N600.00 to a dollar, while Abuja balck market dealers at wuse zone 4 said the currency was exchanged at N594.00 and sold at N595.00 per $1 on Monday.