Naira suffers marginal loss at I&E forex window

The Naira depreciated slightly by 0.05 per cent on Friday to N363.92 against the dollar from $/N363.74 the previous day at the Investors’ and Exporters’ Foreign Exchange market.

At this segment of the foreign exchange market also known as the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEX), a total of $289.73 million was traded in 349 deals, with rates ranging between $/N358.00 – $/N365.00.

The exodus of foreign portfolio investors from the country has been mounting pressure on the local currency, however, the Central Bank has been resilient in defending the Naira, emboldened by rising crude oil prices at the international market as OPEC turned down US plea for increase in production output.

Brent crude oil rose to over four-year high of $83 per barrel on Friday.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s foreign external reserves has dipped by over -7 per cent in the last three months to N44.38 billion on September 27, 2018.

But at the Interbank, the Naira/USD rate remained stable at $/N306.35. Also at the parallel market, the cash and transfer rate remained unchanged at $/N359.80 and $/N362.00 respectively.