The foreign exchange (FX) market opened on Monday, with the naira exchanging with the dollar at 1,430 on the parallel market, popularly called black market.

This represents 5.49 percent depreciation against the dollar, when compared with the level of N1,350 per dollar closed on Friday at the black market.

Traders attributed the naira weakness to increased demand for the greenback by end users who want to travel for business, tourism, health or education.

At the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the local currency closed flat on Friday at N1,400.40 per dollar, losing slightly by 0.16 percent compared with N1,402.67 closed on Thursday.

The intraday high closed at N1,435 on Friday, stronger than N1,445 closed the previous day. The intraday low depreciated to N1,300.40 on Friday as against N1,299.42 on Thursday.

The volume of dollars supplied by willing buyers and willing sellers declined by 13.29 percent to $201.88 million on Friday from $232.84 million recorded on Thursday. The Naira closed flat at N1,380 against the dollar on the parallel market.

Looking ahead, “we expect the Naira to be exchanged within the current band, barring any shocks,” analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited, said.

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