Naira remains stable as rates trade within tight bands

 

In a bid to sustain system liquidity and maintain stability across the different segments of the market, the CBN continued its weekly interventions of $210.0m via the Wholesale SMIS (Secondary Market Intervention Auction). Consequently, rates traded flattish within tight bands during the week. Following the resumption from holidays, the week opened flat on Tuesday with the CBN spot rate at N305.65/$1.00 and this appreciated 5 kobo to N305.60/$1.00 by midweek which remained constant throughout the week. The parallel market rate opened flat at N362.00/$1.00 and remained unchanged till the end of the week.
On the other hand, in the Investor and Exporters’ (I&E) foreign exchange window, the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEX) rate opened the week appreciating 17 kobo to N359.83/$1.00 from N360.00/$1.00 at the prior Thursday’s close. By midweek, the rate depreciated to 21 kobo to close at N360.04/$1.00 and appreciated 3 kobo to N360.01/$1.00 the subsequent day. However, NAFEX rate appreciated 13 kobo week on week to close at N359.87/$1.00 compared to N360.00/$1.00 in the prior week. Moreover, I&E window activity level weakened as cumulative turnover measured on Thursday stood at $1.0 billion, down 16.0 percent ($195.3 million) from $1.2 billion recorded in prior week.
The total value of open contracts of the Naira settled OTC futures in the FMDQ OTC futures market improved by $57.2 million, representing a 1.8 percent week on week growth to $3.3 billion on Friday from $3.2 billion last week close. Nonetheless, the APR-2018 instrument was the most subscribed with a total market value of $660.5 million (contract price: N360.31/$1.00) while the MAR-2019 was the least subscribed with a total market value of $8.8 million (contract price: N361.96/$1.00).