The naira ended the week stronger at the official foreign exchange market, appreciating to N1,363 per dollar on Friday.
This is according to data tracked from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) website. Friday’s closing came as the best since May 6, 2024, when the naira exchanged at N1,354.21/$.
CBN daily trading data shows that the local currency maintained a largely stable but firmer trajectory throughout the trading week.
The improvement comes amid modest reserve accretion and continued divergence between the official and parallel market rates.
The naira’s weekly performance reflects sustained gains at the official window, even as pressures remain evident in the parallel market and the spread between both markets continues to widen.
What the data is saying
Daily trading data from the CBN indicate that the naira closed the week with incremental gains after fluctuating within a narrow band across the five trading sessions.
The data shows a pattern of relative stability, with the exchange rate firming toward the end of the week.
- The naira closed at N1,384.5 per dollar on Monday.
- It settled at N1,367 per dollar on Tuesday and strengthened further to N1,359 per dollar on Wednesday.
- The currency weakened slightly to N1,368 per dollar on Thursday before appreciating to N1,363 per dollar on Friday.
During Friday’s trading session, the naira traded within a range of N1,373 per dollar to N1,361 per dollar, recording a simple mean average rate of N1,366.78 per dollar.
Checks by Nairametrics reveal that this is the currency’s best performance since May 2024, when it closed at N1,354.21/$ on May 6, 2024.
More Insights
A comparison with recent reference points highlights the scale of the naira’s recovery at the official market over the past several weeks.
The currency’s latest close represents a notable improvement relative to earlier levels seen at the start of the year.
- The naira closed at N1,391 per dollar at the end of the previous week, making the latest N1,363 close a clear week-on-week appreciation.
- The gains are more pronounced when compared with the first trading week of January 2026, when the currency closed at N1,431 per dollar on January 2.
- This trend points to a sustained strengthening in the official market over the past month, supported by relatively orderly trading conditions.
The steady improvement suggests that recent trading dynamics at the official window have been more supportive of the local currency, even as broader foreign exchange challenges persist.
What you should know
While the naira gained at the official market, movements in the parallel market remained limited, leading to a wider gap between both segments.
Data from Friday’s trading show that the divergence between the two markets continues to reflect structural segmentation.
- The naira exchanged at N1,440.81 per dollar in the parallel market on Friday, slightly stronger than the N1,441.11 recorded on Thursday.
- Despite this marginal improvement, the gap between the official and parallel market rates widened to N77.81 on Friday from N73.11 the previous day.
- Nigeria’s external reserves rose to $46.8 billion during the week, up from $46.5 billion at the start of the period, according to CBN data.
