BY BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE & NNENNA EZEAH

LAGOS – The naira, yesterday, depreciated again at the official  and interbank foreign exchange markets as the Central Bank of Nigeria,CBN, failed to meet demand.

At the official market, the naira depreciated by 31 kobo as the official exchange rate rose to N152.40 per dollar from N152.09 at the last auction.

The depreciation was prompted by rising demand which outstripped the amount of foreign exchange supplied by the apex bank.

Though amount supplied was increased by 50 per cent to $600 million, demand however rose by 32 per cent to $737 million from $558 million, resulting to unsatisfied demand of $137 million.

This increased demand pressure in the interbank market, prompted the interbank foreign exchange rate to rise to N155 per dollar from N154.755, translating to 24.5 kobo depreciation for the naira.

Last week, the naira depreciated by 74 kobo in the official market  but appreciated by 119 kobo at the interbank market.

On the international scene, the Swiss franc, yen and dollar dropped against most major counterparts as stocks and commodities climbed on speculation that  the world will avoid a return to recession, reducing demand for a haven.

Currencies of higher-yielding countries strengthened amid rising investor appetite for riskier assets. The franc was the worst performer, falling to a seven-week low versus the euro, after United State’s Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke  said last week the U.S. economy hasn’t deteriorated enough to warrant immediate additional stimulus.

“Riskier currencies are doing better because the market is buying riskier today,” said Matthew Perrier, Toronto-based director of foreign exchange at Bank of Montreal. “We’re seeing broad-based dollar weakness across the board and strength in commodities and commodity currencies.”

The franc fell 1.5 per cent to 1.1868 per euro at 11:39 a.m. in New York, from 1.1690 on Aug. 26. It touched 1.1973, the weakest level since July 11. The Swiss currency slid 1.4 percent to 81.78 centimes per dollar, from 80.63 at the end of last week. The greenback depreciated 0.1 percent to $1.4510 versus the euro, compared with $1.4499. The yen fell 0.5 percent to 76.99 per dollar, compared with 76.64. The euro strengthened 0.5 percent to 111.73 yen.