After slumping against the dollar to N988.46/$1 on January 2, 2024, the Naira recorded another slump on Wednesday, closing at N1,035.12/$1 at the official Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) window.
The domestic currency depreciated by 4.72% to close at N1,035.12 to a dollar at the close of business, data from the NAFEM where forex is officially traded, showed.
This represents an N46.66 loss or a 4.72% decline in the local currency compared to the N988.46 it closed on Tuesday.
The intraday high recorded was N1224/$1, while the intraday low was N700/$1, representing a wide spread of N524/$1.
According to data obtained from the official NAFEM window, forex turnover at the close of the trading was $85.68 million, representing a 457.08% increase compared to the previous day.
Significantly, this is the third time that the Naira will be crossing the N1,000/$ threshold after similar events on Friday, December 8th, 2023, when the currency reached a historical low of N1,099.05/$1 and on Thursday, December 28, 2023, when it closed at N1,043.09/$1.
Similarly, the Naira depreciated marginally at the parallel forex market where forex is sold unofficially, the exchange rate depreciated to N1230/$1 as against the N1,220/$1 it traded on Tuesday representing a slide of N10 while peer-to-peer traders quoted around N1224.30/$1.
The naira shed N20 against the British pound to close at N1,555/£1 as against the N1,535/£1 it traded on Tuesday.
The Canadian dollar maintained a bit of stability to close flat at N975/CA$1 while the Euro also shed N15 to close at ₦1,300/€1 compared to the price of ₦1,285/€1 the previous trading day.