GOOD NEWS: Naira strengthens against dollar

After weeks of free fall at the parallel market, the naira strengthened against the dollar on Friday.

The currency gained N10 to exchange at N270 to the dollar after it nosedived to N280 on Thursday.

At the official interbank window, it gained N0.03 to close at N196.97 to the dollar.

Traders at the market told NAN that currency speculators were afraid that the naira could sell below their expectations and this forced them to release foreign exchange for sale.

Meanwhile, Evans Osabouhien, a lecturer at Covenant University, Ota, Ogun state, believes that during the Yuletide, Nigerians living abroad would come home with “a lot of foreign currencies”.

Osabouhien said this would help to reduce the pressure on the foreign exchange market and strengthen the naira.