Naira at six-month high on black market – traders

Wole Tokede with agency report
The Nigerian naira firmed 1.1 percent on the black market on Wednesday to a six month-high of 430 per dollar, traders said.
It was quoted at 307.50 on the interbank market.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been intervening on the official market to try to narrow the currency spread. The black market rate was 520 a month ago.
“The regular intervention by the CBN has increased liquidity in the official market. The new policy has also eliminated spurious demand for the dollar,” Aminu Gwadabe, the head of Nigeria’s exchange bureaux told Reuters.
Since February when the CBN started its intervention at the interbank market, it had injected more than 1.5 billion dollars, and the Naira had extended its gains against the dollar.
To further sustain its intervention at the market, the apex bank injected another 180 million dollars on Monday to meet the needs of schools, medicals, business and personal travel allowances.
The Naira had continued to appreciate at the parallel market, exchanging at N420 (buying rate) and N430 (selling) while Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N530 and N450 respectively on Tuesday.