Naira starts June strong as dollar sells at new exchange rate, British pound nears N2,000

On the first trading day of June 2024, Nigerian currency started strong against the US dollar in the official and unofficial foreign exchange markets.

New data from FMDQ securities showed that naira appreciated against the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) to N1,476.12 /$1 on Monday, June 3.

This represents a 0.7% or N28.34 improvement for Nigerian currency compared with the N1,485.99/$1 transacted last Friday, May 31.

This happened as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) commenced their industrial action over minimum wage and power tariffs, slowing down the market.

The impact was evident as forex transactions declined on Monday in the official market by 42.9%, or $91.55 million, to $121.87 million from the $213.52 million recorded in the last trading session.

Naira against Pound and Euro

However, CBN data shows that naira rate was unchanged against the pound sterling in the official market on Monday at N1,877.92/£1, the same as Friday last hows.

While against the Euro by N14.48 to trade at N1,613.44/€1 on Monday versus N1,598.96/€1. Also, in the black market, the naira appreciated against the dollar as BDC traders quoted buyers a N1,490 rate, an improvement from the N1,500 rate on Friday.