Naira rises slightly while dollar liquidity sinks 45% 

The Nigerian naira rose by 0.24 percent against the dollar this week, even as the liquidity in the official foreign exchange market tumbled by 45 percent.

The average Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Fixing rate closed at N1,549.13/$, compared to N1,552.89/$ last week, according to securities exchange FMDQ which tracks the data. 

The total turnover in the FX spot and derivatives markets declined to $721.26 million from $1,304.00 million last week.

FMDQ said: “The week-on-week (WoW) decrease in total turnover was driven by the 43.88% ($564.02 million) decrease in FX Spot transactions, which recorded a total value of $721.26 million compared to $1,285.28 million in the week-ended December 20, 2024, and the 100.00% ($18.72 million) decrease in FX Derivatives transactions, for the week-ended December 27, 2024.

“The WoW decrease in FX Derivatives turnover was solely driven by the 100.00% ($18.72 million) decrease in FX Forwards turnover, whilst there was continued lack of activity in both the Exchange-Traded FX Futures and Cleared Naira-Settled Non-Deliverable Forwards markets.”