Naira clinched a meagre gain against the U.S dollars on Thursday, appreciating 0.04 per cent a day after it fell at the spot market. The local currency opened at N434.75 per $1 but closed at N436.33 to a dollar as against N436. 50 it traded in the previous session on Wednesday, data published on the FMDQ website, where forex is officially traded, showed. Before the close of business on Thursday, the domestic unit hovered within an intraday range of N420.50 (high) and to a low of N438.35 before closing at N436.33 per $1 on Thursday, the fourth business day of this week. Since the commencement of trade this week, the Naira has been closing between the market of N436.50 and N436.33 to a dollar so far at the NAFEX window, after it touched an all-time low of N436.50 last week Wednesday at the authorised window. The strongest rate the domestic unit has traded within the week so far is N436.33 to a dollar that was recorded on Tuesday and at the close of market today.
This became significant as foreign exchange supply surged by 79.23 per cent with $118.20 million in circulation on Thursday against $65.95 recorded in the previous session on Wednesday.
However, the Naira weakened further significantly in the street market on Thursday, currency rates recorded across showed. Uyo parallel market traders exchanged the dollar at N705.00 and sold N710.00 to a dollar, while Abuja street market dealers said they bought the dollar at N707.00 and sold at N710.00 to a dollar within this period. This is against the N704.00 or N705.00 it exchanged hands with the hard currency in the previous session on Wednesday.
