The exchange rate of naira closed at N470 to the United States’ dollar at the unofficial parallel market on Wednesday, signalling a 1.1% markdown from that at which it ended trade at the session before, which was N465, data gleaned from forex market intelligence website, ABOKIFX reveals.
Dollar hit its intraday low of N465 and high of N470, eventually settling for the latter as trade wound down.
In the same vein, the local currency eased at the over-the-counter spot market alternatively called the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window or NAFEX where it was quoted weaker at N386.50 against the previous session rate of N386.
Read also: Naira remains stable against dollar at forex markets despite liquidity crunch
Nigeria has come under increasing strain from the International Monetary Fund to shelve its multiple exchange rates regime by unifying rates around the one offered at the I&E segment of the currency market, prompting the central bank, its forex supplier, to undertake two downward rate adjustments of the retail forex market, used by lenders, in the six months to 7th July.
On Wednesday, the foreign exchange turnover at the I&E window expanded by 44.9%, implying a steady recovery in a market long constrained by acute dollar crunch from the coronavirus pandemic as well as plunge in oil revenue, which provides nearly 90% of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings, following the recent global oil crash.
Volume leapt from the $12.91 million posted on Tuesday to $18.71 million.
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