Naira appreciates on liquidity boost

The Naira on Thursday appreciated at the forex market barely 24 hours after liquidity challenges forced it to depreciate thrice in six hours.

The Nigerian currency gained five points to close at N465 at the parallel market, from N470 it traded on Wednesday, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro exchanged at N565 and N505 respectively.

According to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report, trading at the Bureau De Change window saw the Naira close at N385 to a dollar, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N560 and N503 respectively.

The Naira also strengthened against the dollar at the official interbank market as it traded at N305 to a dollar, from N306.78 traded on Wednesday.

The Chief Executive Officer of H.J Trust, Mr. Harrison Owoh, said the Naira bounced back as BDCs await the sale of dollars from Travelex, a CBN licenced Forex dealer.

Owoh said the Naira would appreciate further by the close of trading when BDCs would have all gotten their weekly Forex allocation from Travelex.

The Naira weakened on Wednesday due to dollar scarcity at the Forex market, a development that truncated the steady recovery of the currency.

Meanwhile, currency dealers said the Naira was expected to retain its recovery trajectory due to liquidity boost at the market.