Naira Records Second Marginal Gains In New Year

The naira on Friday recorded a second marginal gain against the dollar as pressure eases in the official foreign exchange (FX) market.

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM), the dollar was quoted at the rate of N1,537 on Friday, compared to N1,538 quoted on Thursday, the first trading day of the new year.

The market recorded the highest bid as authorised quoted the dollar at N1,545 on Friday, the same rate as of Thursday. The lowest bid printed at N1,533, lower than N1,532 quoted the previous day.

In the parallel market, also known as black market, the naira steadied at N1,665 per dollar on Friday.

At the FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited platform, the FX market opened at N1,538 per dollar and closed at N1,534.05/$1 on Friday.

The data from the FMDQ revealed that the dollar was quoted at the highest rate of N1,539 and lowest bid rate of N1,530.50 at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).

The data was computed based on FMDQ Exchange FX closing rate methodology using data from Bloomberg BMatch.

In November 2024, the Central Bank issued comprehensive guidelines for the operations of the interbank foreign exchange trading system via the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS), pegging the minimum tradable amount at $100,000 with incremental clip sizes of US$50,000.00, to promote transparency and efficiency in the FX market.

To facilitate interbank trading under this framework, the CBN approved Bloomberg BMatch as the designated platform supporting EFEMS. All market participants are mandated to adhere strictly to the guidelines and any future amendments issued by the CBN.