Despite facing low dollar liquidity, the Nigerian naira showed strength against the US dollar in Monday’s trading at the official foreign exchange market. Data from FMDQ Securities Limited revealed that the naira appreciated by 3.41 percent, with the dollar quoted at N1,354.21 compared to N1,400.40 on Friday at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
However, the total dollar supply decreased significantly by 57.98 percent from $201.88 million on Friday to $84.83 million on Monday.
The FX auction summary from FMDQ indicated that while the intraday high closed weaker at N1,441 on Monday, the intraday low strengthened to N1,285. Conversely, the naira weakened against the dollar at the parallel market, also known as the black market, losing 5.49 percent to close at N1,430/$ compared to N1,350/$ on Friday.
Bamidele Amoo, a member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), highlighted the positive impact of the last Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) hike on the foreign exchange market. He suggested that further hikes in MPR could help stabilize the naira exchange rate volatility.
Source: Business Day