The naira opened trading on Thursday, November 12, 2026, under continued pressure from dollar demand in both the official Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) and the parallel market, maintaining the wide gap between the two exchange rates.
At the official market, data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicated that the naira opened the session at between ₦1,350.36 and ₦1,353.50 per dollar.
However, early Thursday morning international currency feeds showed the exchange rate hovering around ₦1,345.72 per dollar, while official NFEM benchmarks remained based on the previous trading session’s closing figures pending the day’s official fixing.
Earlier in the week, the naira traded between ₦1,349.25 and ₦1,354 per dollar at the official window, with interbank transactions recording a turnover of $248.07 million across 144 deals.
In the parallel market, also known as the black market, the naira continued to exchange at a considerably weaker rate.
Currency dealers in Lagos and Abuja quoted the dollar at between ₦1,411 and ₦1,420 for buying, while selling rates ranged from ₦1,419 to ₦1,430, depending on the location and transaction volume.
The difference between the official NFEM benchmark and parallel market rates stood at approximately ₦68 to ₦80 per dollar.
Market analysts attributed the naira’s recent decline to increased seasonal demand for foreign exchange from importers and travellers preparing for the end-of-year period. They also pointed to foreign portfolio investment outflows and the strengthening of the US dollar in the global market.
Despite the recent depreciation, which saw the parallel market rate touch a 10-month low of ₦1,430 per dollar this week, Nigeria’s gross external reserves remained strong at approximately $54.9 billion.
The figure is above the CBN’s full-year target of $51.04 billion, providing a substantial buffer to support foreign exchange liquidity during the remainder of the fourth quarter.
Traders and businesses are continuing to monitor daily liquidity injections into the NFEM and updates from the CBN for further indications of the naira’s direction as Thursday’s trading session progresses.