Naira gains, trades at N1,040 at parallel market

The naira, on Friday, appreciated against the dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange market.

The local currency gained N145 or 12.24 percent to trade at N1,040 per dollar at the street market — from the N1,185 it traded on Tuesday.

Bureau De Change (BDC) operators, who spoke to TheCable in Lagos, put the buying price of the dollar at N1000 and the selling price at N1,040, leaving a profit margin of N40. 

“We have been having more transactions,” a trader who simply identified as Aliyu, said.

But at the investors and exporters (I&E) window of the official market, the naira fell by 0.92 percent to N793.28 per dollar — from the N786.02 it traded on Wednesday.

Data from FMDQ Securities Exchange, a platform that oversees FX trading in Nigeria, showed that the naira traded at a record intra-day high of N1,018 per dollar and a low of N730.

The appreciation of the naira in the black market has reduced the exchange rate gap between the parallel market and the official window to N246.72.

The development comes a day after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) started clearing the foreign exchange (FX) forwards backlog in banks.

On September 22, Wale Edun, the minister of finance, had linked the continued decline in the value of the naira to overdue forward payments.