The naira eased to its lowest in a week against the U.S dollar on the interbank market on renewed demand for the greenback and despite large forex sales by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell. The local currency fell to 161.30 to the dollar on the interbank, erasing recent gains and compared with its 161.05 close on Tuesday.Nigeria's currency firmed 1.2 percent last week, after a surge of inflows from foreign investors positioning to buy treasury bills and the central bank's dollar sales to banks.
"Demand from some banks buying dollars for their customers was quiet large today, sucking the bulk of dollar liquidity in the market and pushing the naira value down," one currency dealer said.
Traders said Shell sold about $100 million to some lenders on Wednesday, but it was not sufficient to absorb demand.
On the bi-weekly foreign exchange auction, the central bank sold $180 million at 155.87 naira to the dollar, compared with the $163 million sold at the same rate on Monday.
"There are speculations that the NNPC (state-owned energy company) plans to sell dollars in the market this week and this could support naira recovery, otherwise it will be another round of depreciation," another dealer said.
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