By InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Nigeria’s local currency, the naira on Friday gained 1.1 percent compared to the U.S Dollar on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBNs) intervention and dollar sales by oil companies in the week, Reuters reported on Friday quoting dealers.The report affirmed that the naira gained as it opened at 189.55 and closed at 187.50’
Nigeria’s central bank has been selling dollars since this week and intervened again on Friday to lift the naira, which has been trading outside its target band of 160-176 and has hit record lows this year amidst falling oil prices.
Also, the report quoted dealers as saying that the CBN sold an undisclosed amount of dollars to shore up the naira.
It reported that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the review week sold about $350 million while Royal Dutch Shell also sold an undisclosed amount of dollars, to buy naira for local use, boosting interbank dollar liquidity.
The report added that the naira hovered around 189-191 to the greenback in the past week, before oil companies sold dollars for their operations and the central bank intervened to support the local currency, dealers said.
