Victor EzejaThe Nigerian currency the naira recorded a marginal gain after close of trading in the official foreign exchange market on Monday, settling at ₦1,617/$1.
The exchange rate at the close of trading on Friday was ₦1,627$1 which means a 0.58 per cent improvement.
No thanks to the improvement as the currency remains above ₦1,600/$1 trading mark for the sixth day after the value dropped to ₦1,602/$1 on Tuesday, 5 March 2024 from the ₦1,534.19 against one US dollar the previous day.
READ ALSO: Naira Falls Again By 1.57% To ₦1,627.40/$1 In Official Market
Data published by the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) platform where naira and dollar are officially traded revealed that forex transactions was a total of $96.13 million on Monday, the first trading day of the week, marking a significant drop of 64.31 per cent, compared to the previous day’s turnover of $269.35 million.
The NAFEM data also showed that there was an intraday high of ₦1,650/$1 and a low of ₦1,511/$1, indicating a gap of ₦139/$1.
The naira also lost its value in the parallel market where the currency is unofficially traded, at ₦1,623/$1, down 0.18 per cent from Friday’s exchange of ₦1,620/$1.
Financial analysts believe that the steady the steady decline of naira value was due unquenchable demand for dollars as agents constantly purchase and hoard foreign cash.
Naira and other hard currencies
The tale of plummetting naira value continued in its exchange with Great Britain Pound (GBP). The value dropped by 0.34 per cent, as the exchange rate rose to ₦2,040/£1 on Monday against ₦2,033/£1 in the previous trading day.
The naira also lost 0.58 percent of its value in exchange with the Euro, closing at ₦1,715/€1, compared to ₦1,705/€1 in the previous session.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
