Naira Hits All-time Low Of N980/$1 On Rising Demand

Naira on Wednesday fell to a record low of N980 per dollar on rising demand for dollars at the parallel market, popularly known as the black market, BusinessDay reports.

Naira depreciation was attributed to strong demand for dollars by individuals travelling for business, school, medical or tourism.

At the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) forex window, Nigeria’s official FX market, naira fell by 0.34 percent as the dollar was quoted at N776.60 on Tuesday compared to N773.98/$1 on Monday, data from the FMDQ indicated.

Year-to-date, the local currency has depreciated by 68.46 percent (N315.60) to N776.60/$1 from N461/$1 quoted at the beginning of the year.

Willing buyers and willing sellers maintained bids at N799.90/$1 high and N720.00 low, while the daily foreign exchange market turnover closed at $71.01 million on Tuesday.

At the money market, the Nigerian treasury bills secondary market closed on a mildly negative note on Tuesday with the average yield across the curve increasing by 1 basis point to 7.17 percent from 7.16 percent on the previous day, according to a report by FSDH Research.

Average yield across the long-term maturities expanded by 9 bps.

However, the average yields across short-term and medium-term maturities closed flat at 3.05 percent and 6.16 percent, respectively. The treasury bill for July 11, 2024 (+9 bps) maturity bill witnessed selling pressure.