Dollar exchange: Naira loses again at official market

Naira fell yet again against the U.S. dollar at the official market on Thursday, extending its decline to two consecutive days at the spot market.

It closed at N419.50 to a dollar, implying a N1.17 or 0.30 per cent loss from N418.33 it traded in the previous session on Wednesday, data published by FMDQ, where forex is officially traded showed.

At the close of business on Thursday, which opened trading at N417.81 per $1, it hit an intraday high of N410.00 and a low of N444.00. This is the same range the currency has been oscillating in the past one month.

The N419.50 mark is the new weakest rate the naira has exchanged hands with the greenback currency within the past three months at the Over-the-counter (OTC) window this year after it closed at N422.67 to a dollar on January 5.

With this, the currency has strengthened by 3.7 per cent within the past five months after it recorded an all-time low on the last business day of 2021 when it closed at N435.00 to a dollar.

Foreign exchange turnover declined to $124.85 million (17.40 per cent) from $151.07 million posted on Wednesday.

At the parallel market in Abuja, dealers exchanged the naira at N580.00 and sold at N585.00 to a dollar on Thursday, while Uyo dealers said the naira was exchanged at N586.00 and sold for N590.00 per $1.