Supported by dollar sales by Shell and the Eni, the naira closed flat at N161.85 against the dollar on the interbank market on Wednesday, July 30.
At N161.85 to the dollar, the same level at which it closed on Friday, July 25 before the two-day public holiday to mark the Muslim festival of Eid-el-Fitr, the naira has remained within the band of N161.50 to N162 against the dollar.
While Eni sold $5 million, Shell sold an undisclosed amount of dollars to lenders. Month-end dollar sales by energy companies have provided support for the naira in the last two weeks, keeping it fairly stable against the dollar.
“We see the naira stable around the present band in the near term, with more dollars expected from some energy companies,” one dealer said.
Previous week, the naira remained upswing; reflected in 18 kobo appreciation which lifted it to N161.75 to $1 close that week.
Year-to-date (YTD) loss on the naira eased to 1.1 per cent in the fourth week of sustained gain.
However, at the bureau de change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market, the naira depreciated to N167.75 to $1, reflecting N1.5 (0.9 per cent) fall from the level at which it had closed the week before.
A BDC operator, Matthew Eze, said the deadline for the implementation of the new capital requirement for BDCs has caused arbitrary rates, depending on demand.
At the primary market window, the marginal rate maintained the mid-point at N155.73 to $1 during previous week’s auctions.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) offered $700 million at the bi-weekly primary market auctions but only $671.9 million was sold.