Streets forex trading holds firm as dollar average N361

Wednesday monitoring of Nigeria’s ubiquitous street market for foreign exchange by business a.m. in Lagos, showed the dollar began the day trading at N360/N361 and remained unchanged throughout the day. The currency was bought by traders at N356 in the morning, climbing to N357/N358 later in the day.

The British pound sterling was bought by traders for N475/N476 and stayed at that range throughout the day, but they sold for N480. The euro started off the day selling selling at N418, but it rose slightly in the evening when it was sold for N419/N420. The price changes were attributed to the weather, which affected demand. It had rained in the Ikeja street currency market axis on Wednesday morning.

Around the Lagos Airport Hotel axis on Obafemi Awolowo Way, Ikeja, rates did not move throughout the day as the dollar was sold at N361 and the pound at N480, the same price as yesterday. Street traders sold the euro for N420. On the other hand, traders bought the dollar at the rate of N356/N357; pounds at N474/N475; and the euro at N415.

At the Bureau De Change (BDC) window, the naira was bought at N357 to the dollar and sold at N360, while the pound sterling and the euro sold at N482 and N419, respectively, with buying rates of N474 and N410, respectively.

On the average the naira showed stability against the dollar to close flat at N361 in the parallel market, gained by 0.01 percent to N361.69 in the import & export foreign exchange window (I&E FX) as total turnover in the IEW dropped by 42.89 percent to $70.77 million, with majority of the trade, trading between N359.50 – N362.84 per dollar.

On Tuesday the Central Bank of Nigeria injected $210 million into the FX market, amidst the continued decline in the foreign reserves, which stood at $47.51 billion (as at 16th July) – $107.01 million lower than the previous week’s close of $47.62 billion.