The naira fell for a third day against the dollar on the Nigerian interbank market as import demand increased.
The currency fell 0.2 per cent to N158.5 a dollar in Lagos. The naira has advanced 2.4 per cent this year, the best performer in Africa according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“There was some late demand,” Samir Gadio, an emerging markets strategist with Standard Bank in London at Standard Bank Group Limited, said in an e-mailed reply to questions yesterday. The currency earlier rallied on speculation that oil companies were going to sell dollars in the market, Gadio said.
Fuel imports have been a source of pressure on the naira, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria, with the country relying on imports to meet more than 70 per cent of domestic fuel needs because of a lack of refining capacity.
The yield on Nigeria’s 7 per cent domestic bonds due October 2019 dropped 29 basis points to 13.52 percent, according to data on the Financial Markets Dealers Association(FMDA) website.Yields on the nation’s $500 million of Eurobonds due January 2021 slid seven basis points to 4.89 per cent today.
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