Naira heads to two-month low on lower dollar liquidity

The decline in dollar liquidity has dragged the Nigerian currency to the lowest since March 20 on the official market, data from a Lagos-based securities exchange shows.

The total turnover in the FX spot and derivatives markets fell by 30.78 percent to $795.58 million this week from $1,149.28 million last week, according to FMDQ.

It said the FX spot turnover dropped by 32.81 percent to $768.83million, offsetting the increase in FX derivatives turnover. 

“The week-on-week increase in FX derivatives turnover was solely driven by the 435 percent ($21.75 million) increase in FX forwards turnover, while there was continued lack of activity in both the Exchange-Traded FX Futures and Cleared Naira-Settled Non-Deliverable Forwards,” it said.

The average Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Fixing rate was N1,420.79/$, compared to N1,381.74/$ recorded last week.