By Babajide Komolafe
LAGOS — The naira  depreciated by 18 kobo, Monday, at the official market in spite of 19 per cent decline in demand for foreign exchange.

Results of the Wholesale Dutch Auction System, WDAS, session conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, showed that demand dropped to $443.95 million from $518.54 million in the last auction. The amount offered and sold by apex bank, however, remained at $400 million.

The official exchange rate rose to N150.62 per dollar from N150.46 last week. The depreciation of the naira was due to higher bid rates quoted by banks, an indication of willingness to buy foreign exchange at higher exchange rate. For example, the highest successful bid rate rose to N150.86 per dollar from N150.75 in the last auction. The lowest successful bid rate also rose to N150.21 from N149.4.

But at the interbank market, the naira gained 43 kobo as the interbank exchange rate closed at N152.615 per dollar from N153.0425.

Investigations revealed that the appreciation of the naira was occasioned by dollar inflow from oil firms. “So oil firms sold an undisclosed of dollar today. The amount would have been significant for the naira to appreciate by that margin”, said Kunle Ezun, analyst with Financial Market Dealers Association (FMDA).

On the international scene, The Swiss franc rose to a record versus the dollar as a U.S. manufacturing index dropped more than forecast and investors bet the debt accord President Barack Obama and congressional leaders reached will damp growth.

The franc reached the strongest level on record versus the euro as factory growth for the region slowed. The Canadian and Australian dollars fell as commodities and equities erased gains. The Japanese currency gained versus the euro even after Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said today he’s watching currency markets closely.

“The prospect of even less government spending over the next decade can further increase headwinds on the U.S. economy,” said Joe Manimbo, a market analyst in Washington at Travelex Global Business Payments, a currency-exchange network. “That can weigh on some of those growth-reliant currencies such as the Aussie and the Canadian dollar and translate into more gains for the yen and the Swiss franc.”

The franc advanced 0.5 percent to 78.18 centimes per dollar at 1:30 p.m. in New York and touched a record 77.31 centimes. The Swiss currency climbed 1.6 percent to 1.1128 per euro and touched 1.1028. The yen appreciated as much as 0.6 percent to 76.30 per dollar, the strongest since March, before trading at 77.14, down 0.5 percent. It gained 0.6 percent to 109.91 against the 17-nation currency. The euro fell 1.1 percent to $1.4238