The nation’s currency, the Naira, on Thursday, gained slightly against the US dollar by N0.04k/$ or 0.02 percent at the inter-bank foreign exchange market.
After trading, naira closed at N199.14k/$ as against N199.18k/$ traded the previous day according to data obtained from Financial Markets Dealers Quotations (FMDQ). Analysts attribute recent naira performance to USD supplies from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in addition to USD sales by oil companies.
At the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Foreign investors sold off 132.68 billion naira ($667 million) in Nigerian stocks for the first two months of the year, data from the stock exchange showed on Thursday, hurt by a weaker naira currency and jitters over Saturday’s elections, Reuters report. Nigeria faces a presidential election with front runners President Goodluck Jonathan and former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari facing off in a contest many think is too close to call.
The electoral body last month delayed the polls by six-weeks to March 28 citing security concerns, sending financial markets into a tailspin, with the naira crashing through a psychological level of 200 to the dollar for the first time. Foreign investors also increased the pace of out- flows from Africa’s biggest economy as global oil prices plunged. T
he main share index rose 0.6 percent to 30,073 points on Thursday, doing little to erase losses on the bourse, down 13.8 percent so far this year. One of the top decliners at the bourse is Dangote Cement , which accounts for a third of market capitalisation and reported weaker earnings on Thursday, has fallen 23.7 percent so far this year.
