Naira gains marginally atI&EFX window, flat at parallel market

The Nigerian currency, naira on Monday recorded a marginal gain at the Investors & Exporters (I&EFX) window, but remained flat against the dollar at N361.00/USD in the parallel market.

At the close official trading activities at the I&EFX window, the Naira gained 1.41per cent, 0.06per cent and 0.29 per cent against pounds, USD and EUR to close at N473.24, N364.17 and N401.86 respectively.

However, traded flat at N476, and N397against pounds sterling and Euro, respectively.

The daily trading statics obtained from the FMDQ OTC securities revealed that a total of $128.03 million was traded on the specialized window for investors and exporters.

Commenting, analysts at InvestmentOne explained, “Going forward, we expect the FX market to continue to see support from CBN’s intervention sales.”

The overnight lending rate expanded by 250basis points to 17.83per cent, as the system liquidity — estimated at N112.06 billion — squeezed, following banks provisioning for foreign exchange wholesale, Invisibles and SMEs auctions.

Trading in the NTB market continues its quiet trend, as average yield expanded by 11bps to 3.85per cent. Yields expanded at the long (+24 basis) end of the curve, following selloffs of 220DTM (+77basis points) instrument. On the flip side, the short and mid-segment traded flat.

Similarly, average yield expanded by 9bps to close at 13.29per cent at the OMO secondary market.

The bond market traded bullishly across the curve, as local investors’ continue to cherry-picked bonds at favourable yields. Consequently, average yield pared by 2bps to 9.81per cent.