Naira strengthens to N740/$ at parallel market as dollar demand shrinks

The naira, on Friday, appreciated further against the dollar at the parallel market to trade at N740 per dollar.

The figure represents an appreciation of N35 or 4.5 percent from the N775 it traded last week.

Currency traders known as Bureaux De Change operators (BDCs), who spoke to TheCable in Ikeja and Victoria Island area of Lagos, said there was low demand for the greenback in the street market.

The traders put the buying price of the dollar at N725 and the selling price at N740, leaving a profit margin of N15.

“We have dollars to sell but demand is poor. People are not buying,” one trader told TheCable.

Meanwhile, the local currency depreciated by 0.12 percent at the official market to close at N445.83 on Thursday, according to details on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, a platform that oversees official foreign exchange trading in Nigeria.

Data from the platform showed that while the market opened with an exchange rate of N422 to the dollar, the highest price recorded was N447/$ within the day’s trading, before it settled at N445.83.

A total of $99.5 million was traded in foreign exchange at the official investors and exporters window (I & E) window.

Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 naira notes.

While some experts insist it would negatively affect the economy, Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had expressed optimism that the dollar may crash to N200 after the redesigned notes are launched.