A rough Week 17 for the Naira, slumps further to N1,450/$1 at parallel market, N1,309/$1 in official window

The naira weakened against the dollar across the official and parallel markets yesterday, manifesting four consecutive days of losses. The naira settled at N1,309.81/$1 at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) window yesterday, representing a N1.36 decline compared to N1,308.52/$1 on Wednesday.   Similarly, at the parallel market, the naira plunged by N150, when it closed at N1,450/$1, compared to N1,300/$1 the previous day, marking one of its biggest losses in a single day in recent times.   However, daily turnover rose significantly by 60.99 per cent, to $318.08 million, compared to Wednesday’s $197.54 million. The highest spot rate stood at N1,435/$1  with the lowest spot rate recorded at N1,100/$1. The naira’s unimpressive outing came on a day analysts warned that its positive showing in recent times might be short-lived unless the fiscal authorities complemented the various policy initiatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) aimed at strengthening its position against the dollar.