The nation’s cur- rency, the naira, yesterday, gained over the US dollar by N0.36k or 0.18 percent at the inter-bank market after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) adjusted the clearing rate to N196.90k.
The official exchange rate of the apex bank was adjusted from N196.95k last week to N196.90k this week.
Consequently, after trading on Thursday the local currency closed at N198.42k/ compared with N198.78 the previous day, data from Financial Mar- kets Dealers Quotations (FMDQ) indicated.
On Wednesday, naira weakened 0.6 percent against the USD in the in- ter-bank and -7.7 percent Year-To-Date on June 10, 2015.
While the inter-bank foreign exchange market is somehow stable, naira short-term outlook is weak due to impact arising from sustained low oil prices, low level of FX reserves and large level of unmet USD demand, according to Ecobank report.
Naira foreign exchange indicator as revealed by Standard Chartered-MNI Business Sentiment Indica- tor (BSI) falls to a series low in May 2015.
At the money market, the overnight inter-bank rate, the rate at which banks bor- row and lend immediately available fund to each other, dropped to 13.04 percent from 19.08 percent, repre- senting 6.04 percent decline.
Also, the Nigerian inter- bank offered rates for one month, three months and six months dropped from 15.77 percent, 17.02 per- cent, and 17.96 percent on Wednesday to 15.41 percent, 16.54 percent, and 17.46 percent, at the close of trading on Thursday, ac- cording to the data obtained from FMDQ.
On Wednesday, the in- terbank (O/N) rate rose by 538bp to 19.1 percent intra-day, and closed 17.2 percent.
The increased in- ter-bank liquidity outflows to fund treasury bills (NTBs and OMOs) and FX transac- tions continued to weigh on market performance.
HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
