Nigeria's currency barely budged Wednesday as the Central Bank held firm on interest rates. The naira gained just 53 kobo against the dollar in official trading.
CBN data showed the dollar at N1,373.34 by day's end. That compared to N1,373.87 the previous day at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market.
Traders moved $286.03 million through the NFEM window on Wednesday. Volume dropped 18.65 percent from Tuesday's $351.60 million.
Deal count stayed flat at 261 transactions. But interbank activity picked up sharply.
Interbank dealings jumped to 112 from 76 a day earlier. That's a 47.37 percent increase in the number of trades.
Interbank turnover slipped slightly to $68.02 million. It had been $72.42 million on Tuesday.
The parallel market told a different story. Naira weakness there widened the gap between official and black market rates.
On the streets, dealers quoted N1,395 per dollar Wednesday. That was N5 weaker than Tuesday's N1,390 close.
The spread between official and parallel rates stretched to N22. Earlier in the week it stood at just N17.
CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso announced the rate decision at a briefing Wednesday. His Monetary Policy Committee had met for two days to deliberate.
The bank kept its benchmark rate unchanged at 26.5 percent. Officials also held all other key parameters steady.
The corridor around the main rate stayed at plus 50 to minus 450 basis points. No adjustments were made there.
Reserve requirements for deposit money banks remained at 45 percent. Merchant banks keep theirs at 16 percent.
Liquidity ratio held at 75 percent as well. Cardoso noted Nigeria's external reserves hit $49.49 billion by May 15.
That's up from $48.35 billion in late March. According to him, reserves now cover more than nine months of imports.
Cardoso told reporters the stronger buffer backs ongoing FX market reforms. He said it strengthens Nigeria's external position amid currency volatility.
