Forex transactions hit $92.18m at I&E window

The Naira at the official window on Friday closed at 379.00/$1, unchanged against the previous day’s position.

The Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window opened at N386.69, traded high at N387.00 and eventually closed at N386.13, representing a 0.03% appreciation against the previous day’s closing position. A total of $92.18 million was transacted through the I&E window today.

Two weeks ago, the CBN moved against the abuse of the  official  FX  windows  by  importers  as  well  as  exporters  and  announced  that  it  would commence weekly sales of dollar to BDCs, at N384.0/$ while directing the BDCs to sell at a cap of N386.0/$.

Notably,  rates  at the official market  and I&E  window  improved  to  N379.0/$  and  N385.67/$  respectively  (previously  N381.0/$  and N386.0/$).

Meanwhile, the  total  value  of  open  FX  contracts  at  the  FMDQ  Securities  Exchange  FX futures  market  declined  5.1%  w/w  to  $12.3bn  as  the  Aug-2020  contract  worth  $1.6bn matured  during  the  week.  However,  the  soon  to  mature  Sept-2020  instrument  (current rate  N389.54/$)  continued  to  see  more  interest  and  received  the  highest  subscription during  the  week,  worth  $274.2mn  to  bring  its  total  value  to  $1.5bn.  Also,  the  CBN  FX reserves climbed 0.3% w/w to settle at c. $35.7bn.