Naira loses at official, black markets

The naira fell against the U.S dollar at both the official and unofficial c on Friday, data posted on both markets trading sessions showed.

According to abokiFX.com, the local currency closed at N510.00 per $1 at the black market, representing a N2.00 or 0.40 per cent devaluation from the N508.00 rate it traded in the previous session on Thursday.

Similarly, data posted on the FMDQ Security Exchange where forex is officially traded showed that the naira closed at N411.50 per $1 on Friday.

This implies a N0.25 or 0.10 per cent devaluation from the N411.25 rate it exchanged hands with the hard currency in the previous session on Thursday.

The currency saw an intraday high of N400.00 and staged a low of N413.00 before settling at N411.50 at the Nafex window, the same rates it touched in the previous session on Thursday.

This happened as forex supply remained unchanged at $103.90 million posted in the previous session on Thursday.

With this, the spread between the official market and the unofficial market rates is pegged at N98.50, leaving a margin of 19.31 per cent as of the close of business Friday.