The naira, Nigeria’s currency, opened the foreign exchange (FX) market on Monday with a gain of 5.93 percent on the parallel market, popularly called the black market.

The local currency exchanged with the US dollar at the rate of N1,350 on Monday, as against N1,430 exchanged on Friday on the black market.

According to currency traders, the naira appreciation followed a moderation in the demand for the greenback, which was scarce on Friday due to scarcity of dollars.

At the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the naira depreciated by 2.24 percent as the dollar was quoted at N1,339.23 on Friday compared to N1,309.88/$1 quoted on Thursday last week, according the data released by the FMDQ Securities Exchange.

The intraday high closed at N1,410 per dollar on Friday, stronger than N1,435 closed on Thursday. The intraday low also appreciated to N1,051 per dollar on Friday, from the low of N1,100/$1 quoted on the spot trading on Thursday.

Dollar supplied by the willing buyers and willing sellers declined marginally by 2.85 percent to $309.01 million on Friday from $318.08 million recorded on Thursday.