The naira tumbled against the United States dollar on the parallel market to 503 on Thursday, down from the 500 recorded on Wednesday.

The local currency had closed at 499 and 498 on Tuesday and Monday, respectively.

This came almost two weeks after the naira touched 500/dollar briefly and returned to 498/dollar.

The local currency had been stable against the greenback for about three weeks.

Economic and financial experts are divided over the outlook for the naira this year but many have said the local currency may depreciate further in the coming months.

The external reserves also rose to $28.6bn on February 8, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s data showed on Thursday.

The naira might fall to around 520/dollar, the Chief Executive Officer of Lagos-based research firm, Financial Derivatives Company, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, had said.

On the official market, it remained at 305.25/dollar, where it has been trading since last August.

The CBN last week sold $660m in three and five-month currency forwards at an auction aimed at clearing a backlog of dollar demand.

But traders said it was not enough to satisfy the market.

“Despite rising FX reserves, it’s the amount of the FX that is supplied that matters. The parallel market, by its nature, is particularly sensitive to demand-supply imbalances, and has a tendency to overshoot,” Reuters reported, quoting the Head of Africa Research at Standard Chartered Bank, Razia Khan.

“Supply of FX matters more than any other factor,” she added.

Traders said the CBN had been selling dollars on the official market to support the naira, but dollar shortages were causing the local currency to weaken on the black market.

The naira lost a third of its official value against the dollar in 2016 after the CBN scrapped its peg for the currency, allowing the naira to float on the interbank market, in a bid to alleviate dollar shortages

On the Bureau de Change segment, the naira closed at N399/dollar, while the pound sterling and euro closed at N617 and N527, respectively.

Traders said that the scarcity of the greenback was far from being over.

The forex exchange reserves have gained more than $2bn so far this year, rising from $25.8bn on December 30, 2016 to $28.2bn on February 2, 2017.

Update: The Naira slid further on Friday against the US dollar to close at 506 on the parallel market.

http://investorsking.com/naira-tumbles-503-parallel-market/

na wa oooo

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
I mean Humpty Naira Dumpty.

...Naira on the match to #1000 to a $1 mark.

...All i can say at this point is sai barber!

Closed 506/$ on Friday.

pls come again i didnt hear you

Na die we dey for this country like this o...

Ah e..... Aruuuuu!!!

But this is no longer news na, we know the helpless naira is destined for #1000/$ by the end of 2018. Infact it's even going too slow as against what we expect. By now I thought it would have gotten to like #580.
I pity Nigeria.

Na yahoo yahoo sure pass

this con3 tire me abeg

Nigeria for sale..

Buhari will be used as example to scold children why they need to go to school..

Gradually heading to 1000 Naira to a dollar

Am expecting it to reach 1000 in jesus name!

It aff well o

Na waoo... It is really getting out of hands. May God help us.

lobatan, ishiorite

Gently waiting for it to reach 1,000 naira, then, i make millions by selling my USD.

We're in trouble.

If you agreed gej was a bad leader because naira fell from 142 to 195 in 5yrs,
and you defending a government who has moved naira from 195 to 503 in less than 2yrs
please know that something is wrong with your education and sense of objectivity.

Sisqoman:
Am expecting it to reach 1000 in jesus name!

why?

We are in problem. One of which is that APC government is still refunding one of their main sponsors during last election in hard currency. The former governor has refused to receive his fund in local currency especially at CBN rate to Dollar. He had claimed that he spent in dollars and should be refunded in dollars.
This has caused a lot of strain on the party's and government's monetary reserve.

503..... M dt am expecting like 60
/$

This is serious. It is well with our Naira.

Oh my Naira

Choi

:-X506?