The Naira recorded its highest single-day gain against the dollar at the official foreign exchange market on Thursday, ahead of Friday’s public holiday to mark Eid-ul-Mawlid, the birth of the Holy Prophet Muhammad.
Exchange data from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed that it appreciated significantly to N1,514.87 per dollar on Thursday, up from N1,521.46 traded on Wednesday.
This means that the Naira strengthened by N6.59 against the dollar on a day-to-day basis to end the official trading week.
Thursday’s gain is the highest uptrend for the local currency in the last three trading days.
Meanwhile, at the black market, the Naira dropped slightly to N1,539 per dollar, down from N1,533 traded the previous day.
Accordingly, analysis of both foreign exchange markets indicated that the most populous country in Africa’s currency recorded mixed sentiments in the week under review.
This comes as Nigeria’s external debt continued to rise, hitting $41.49 billion on Wednesday, up from $41.46 billion recorded the previous day, according to data from the apex bank.
