Naira appreciates to N1,435/$ at official market

The naira, on Friday, appreciated at the official section of the foreign exchange market.

It gained 1.84 percent or N26.9 to close at N1,435 per dollar — from the N1,461.90/$ rate reported on Thursday.

During trading, the dollar rate rose as high as N1,526 and as low as N891, according to data from FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees foreign exchange (FX) trading in Nigeria.

The local currency, however, dropped to N1,410 per dollar at the parallel section of the market, depreciating by N10 or 0.71 percent from the N1,400/$ traded on Thursday.

The gap between the official and black market rates shrank to N25.53 — a drop from N61.90 on Thursday.

With the current rate, the value of the naira against the dollar at the official window continued to surpass the parallel market rate.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has removed the exchange rate cap placed on international money transfer operators (IMTOs).

CBN halted the allowable limit of exchange rate quoted by the money transfer operators, which was previously pegged on the previous day’s closing rate of the official window.

The apex bank directed the IMTOs to quote exchange rates for naira payout to beneficiaries based on the prevailing market rates.