LAGOS- A total of 857 million dollars was sold at the official foreign exchange market last week.
A statement issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Lagos said that the amount represented a 17.2 per cent increase over the $731.00 million sold in the previous week.
It said that the intervention of the CBN at the inter-bank segment of the foreign exchange market amounted to $587.00 million last week as against $555.00 million in the week ended October 17, 2008
“The aggregate demand for foreign exchange by authorized dealers amounted to US$1,436.40 million compared to US$883.00 million in the preceding week.
“The observed increase in demand for foreign exchange was fuelled by the divestment from port-folio assets by foreign investors occasioned by dismal performance of the stock market,” it said.
The CBN said that the average number of banks that participated at the WDAS auction increased to 22 last week from 18 in the previous week and that the average number of successful banks remained at 18.
It said that average exchange rate of the naira stood at N117.74 to the dollar as against N117.71 to the dollar in the preceding week.
The CBN reported that the weighted average exchange rate also depreciated slightly to N117.73 to the dollar from N117.71 to the dollar in the previous week.
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