Naira hits all-time low of 412/$1 at parallel market

The Naira reached an all-time low of 412 per dollar on the parallel market on Friday.

This may not be unconnected with the suspension of some banks from forex trading by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

Traders said some Bureau De Change operators have been finding it difficult to access their forex account and get dollar supply.

On Thursday, the naira had closed at 409 per dollar at the parallel market, while on the inter-bank market, it traded at 315 compared with 305 the previous day.

In fact, shares in some of the banks dropped by up to 7.8 percent as a result of the suspension order by the apex bank.

Bank executives have been meeting central bank officials to resolve the forex issue as investors continued to dump their shares on the second day.

On the inter-bank market, the currency gained 0.2 percent to close at 305 naira to the greenback with traders attributing the rise to the central bank dollar sale to prop up the unit.

It would be recalled that during the week, the CBN settled $152.48 million of naira futures contracts it sold in June at an exchange rate of 279 naira per dollar, further draining its reserves, which is at its lowest in more than 11 years.