The naira traded largely unchanged across Nigeria’s foreign exchange (FX) market on Monday, supported by rising external reserves despite weaker trading activity.
Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the naira closed at N1,379.65 per dollar in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) on Monday, compared with N1,379.62 on Friday, representing a marginal depreciation of N0.03.
In the parallel market, also known as the black market, the local currency weakened slightly by N5, or 0.35 percent, to N1,425 per dollar on Monday from N1,420 on Friday. As a result, the gap between the official and parallel market exchange rates widened to N46 per dollar from N41 on Friday.
Trading activity in the interbank FX market moderated at the start of the week. Total turnover declined by 9.74 percent to $71.04 million on Monday from $78.71 million on Friday, while the number of deals fell by 17.92 percent to 87 on Monday from 106 over the same period on Friday.
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