Naira continues to appreciate/gain weight against dollar

The Naira has continued to appreciate and gain weight against the dollar at the parallel market, newsmen report.

The Nigerian currency on Tuesday afternoon traded at N420 (buying rate) and N430 (selling rate), while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N530 and N450 respectively.

Trading on the floor of the Bureau De Change (BDC) showed that the Naira closed at N400 to a dollar, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro traded at N545 and N480 respectively.

Naira-Dollar

The Naira remained stable at the interbank market, exchanging at N307.50 to a dollar.

Traders at the market said that they were happy with the performance of the Naira at the market, adding that it would lead to the fall in the prices of goods and services nationwide.

Meanwhile, Mr Emefiele Godwin, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said that the bank was optimistic to see the further convergence of the official and parallel market rates.

Emefiele said this, while fielding questions from newsmen at the end of the two- day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the CBN in Abuja.

“We are determined to see a greater convergence of the official and parallel market rates,’’ Emefiele said.

Newsmen report that the CBN retained the lending rate at 14 per cent and other monetary policy parameters.

The CBN has recorded huge success at the FOREX market since it started injecting over 1.5 billion dollars at the interbank market.

The Naira has continued to firm against the dollar in defiance of predictions by some experts that it would sink to N1, 000 to a dollar by the second quota of the year.