The naira rallied to its strongest level in almost six weeks as Nigeria’s state oil company was said to sell dollars to the local market.

Oil producers, including Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., are the biggest source of U.S. currency after the Central Bank of Nigeria, which offers foreign exchange at auctions on Mondays and Wednesdays to maintain local-currency stability. The naira is the best performer among 24 African currencies tracked by Bloomberg in April, climbing 2.4 percent.

The Nigerian unit gained 1 percent to 161.19 per dollar by 3:28 p.m. in Lagos, the commercial capital, the highest since Feb. 28 on an intraday basis. The currency has climbed for two days, paring this year’s decline to 0.6 percent.

“The rally in the foreign-exchange market is the product of NNPC dollar sales coupled with an aggressive offshore bid for naira fixed-income assets,” Samir Gadio, a London-based emerging-markets strategist at Standard Bank Group Ltd., said in e-mailed comments today. “It looks like the bullish external risk environment is pushing foreign investors to come back to the Nigerian market.”

Omar Farouk Ibrahim, an Abuja-based spokesman for NNPC, didn’t answer a call to his mobile phone or immediately respond to a text message seeking comment. Naira sovereign bonds returned 0.9 percent in the past week, compared with a 0.6 percent return in emerging-market government debt, according to Bloomberg indexes.

Source: Bloomberg (by Chris Kay)