CBN to auction $100 million in forwards

 

 

THE Central Bank of Nigeria is planning to offer $100 million in forwards at an auction on Monday to improve liquidity on the currency markets but did not disclose the settlement period, traders said, citing a memo from the regulator.
Traders said the dollar auction would be both for spot and forward settlements and have to be backed by customer demand.
The central bank has been intervening aggressively since February to try to narrow the spread between the official and black market rates and has sold more than $4 billion. In theory, greater liquidity should lead the rates to converge.
The naira was quoted weaker on Monday at an investor trading window, at 381.11 per dollar, data from market regulator FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange showed. The official market rate was N306.20 and the black market rate N391.
(Reuters)