By Dipo Olowookere

The Naira came under pressure this week as selloffs by foreign portfolio investors created a huge demand of foreign exchange at the market during the week.

At the close of business on Friday, the local currency lost 0.14 percent week-on-week against the Dollar at the investors and exporters (I&E) forex window.

However, the Nigerian legal tender remained unchanged against the US Dollar at the Bureau De Change segment and the parallel market to close at N357/$ and N360/$ respectively as CBN sustained its special intervention.

Also, the Naira/Dollar rate closed flat at the interbank foreign exchange market at N330/$ amid weekly injections by CBN of $210 million into the foreign exchange market via the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS): of which $100 million was allocated to Wholesale (SMIS), $55 million was allocated to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and $55 million was sold for invisibles, analysts at Cowry Asset said.

Meanwhile, all dated forward contracts at the interbank over-the-counter (OTC) segment depreciated – spot rate, 1 month, 2 months 3 months and 6 months contracts lost 0.03 percent, 0.20 percent, 0.22 percent, 0.20 percent and 0.47 percent to close N306.10/$, N365.46/$, N368.52/$, N371.69/$ and N383.64/$ respectively.

Cowry Asset is predicting that next week, it expects slight depreciation at the I&E FXW segments amid expected sell-offs by foreign portfolio investors.

https://www.businesspost.ng/2018/08/18/naira-under-pressure-amid-selloffs-by-foreign-portfolio-investors/

We believe one day this pressure pursuing our naira will STOP!