Naira struggles against Dollar, Pound Sterling at official market

Nigerian currency continues its struggle against the United States Dollar at the official market.

Data from FMDQ showed Naira at the investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market depreciated against the dollar on Friday by 3 kobo or 0.01 percent as it traded at N415.10/$1 compared with N415.07/$1 it traded on Thursday.

Friday trading performance made it three consecutive sessions of weak trading for Nigerian currency.

It was observed that the local currency put up a poor outing during Friday session as forex supply went down by 81.4 per cent or $368.94 million.

FMDQ data showed the turnover for the trading session stood at $84.44 million compared with the $453.38 million recorded a day earlier.

However, the domestic currency closed flat against the American Dollar at the interbank segment of the market as the official exchange rate remained unchanged at N411.75/$1 yesterday.

In the same vein, the exchange rate of the Naira to the Pound Sterling at the interbank segment remained intact at N543.06/£1 and against the Euro, it closed flat at N464.08/€1.

At the black-market traders kept their exchange rate at N574 on Friday.

Meanwhile, Nigerian forex reserves have dropped by $224.1 million since the start of December.

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed Nigerian reserves reduced from $41.15 billion it open December to $40.93 billion as at Wednesday, 8th