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Nigeria’s currency on Thursday weakened against the U.S dollar by 0.20 percent on the black market due to increased demand amid shortage of the greenback.
After trading on Thursday, dollar closed at N499 as against N498 traded since Tuesday on the parallel market. At the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment, naira remained stable at N495 per dollar since May 29, 2021.
Aminu Gwadabe, president, Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), said forex speculators are capitalizing on the state of the foreign exchange market and the naira to sell dollars above CBN approved margin.
He said that CBN-licenced BDCs are not selling dollars to end users above the N2 per dollar margin set by the financial sector regulator to protect the naira against foreign exchange speculators and ensure exchange rate stability.
At the Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window, naira appreciated marginally by 0.04 percent as the dollar was quoted at N410.90 on Thursday compared to N411.06 on Wednesday, data from the FMDQ showed.
Currency traders who participated at the trading session on Thursday maintained bids at between N381.50 and N420.47k per dollar.
At the money market on Thursday, the Nigerian Treasury Bills secondary market closed on a mildly negative note with average yield across the curve increasing by 1 basis point to close at 6.10 percent on Thursday from 6.09 percent on the previous day, FSDH Research noted.
Average yield across the long-term maturities widened by 26 bps, while the average yield across short-term and medium-term maturities compressed by 31 bps and 5 bps, respectively. Yields on 9 bills advanced with the 17-Mar-22 maturity bill recording the highest yield increase of 40 bps, while yields on 11 bills declined with the 10-Jun-21 maturity bill recording the highest yield decrease of 42 bps.
The Overnight (O/N) rate decreased by 0.58 percent to close at 14.25 percent on Thursday as against the last close of 14.83 percent on Wednesday, and the Open Buy Back (OBB) rate decreased by 0.33 percent to close at 14.00 percent from 14.33 percent on the previous day.
In the OMO bills market, the average yield across the curve increased by 16 bps to close at 9.97 percent on Thursday as against the last close of 9.81 percent. Selling pressure was seen across medium-term and long-term maturities with the average yields expanding by 35 bps and 9 bps, respectively.
However, the average yield across the short-term maturities remained unchanged at 9.37 percent. Yields on 12 bills advanced with the 19-Oct-21 maturity bill recording the highest yield increase of 58 bps, while yields on 11 bills remained unchanged.
