Naira fell to a year-low against the U.S. dollar at the parallel market Wednesday, days after Central Bank of Nigeria adopted the Nafex exchange rate.

The local unit closed at N493.00 at the black market, a 1.23 per cent decline from N487.00 it traded on Tuesday, data posted on abokiFX.com, a website that collates parallel market rates in Lagos showed.

The last time the currency touched and closed at N493 at the parallel market was on May 4, 2020.

However, the naira gained marginally against the U.S dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window also known as the official Nafex market, on Wednesday.

It closed at N411.50 to the dollar, a N0.06 or 0.02 per cent appreciation from N411.56 it traded in the previous session on Tuesday.

Naira touched an intraday low of N420.25 and a high of N363.00, according to data posted on the FMDQ Security Exchange where forex is officially traded.

The variations came after CBN posted the I&E rate on Monday on its website two weeks after it deleted the previous official fixed rate of 379 naira, effectively devaluing the currency by 7.6 per cent.

Within this period, the currency has witnessed two significant falls at a stretch at the parallel market this week, widening the spread between the unofficial market and the NAFEX window further.

Based on the aforementioned status of the both markets, the disparity between the black market and official market rates is pegged at N81.50, which translates to a margin of 16.53 per cent.

PT