Nigerian naira weakens on importer dollar demand

The Nigerian naira was down 0.76 percent against the dollar at Tuesday's market close after dollar sales by multinational oil firms failed to soak up rising demand for the U.S. currency from importers, dealers said.
   Dealers said uncertainty about monetary policy following the suspension of central bank governor Lamido Sanusi last week also continued to weigh on the naira.
   Nigeria imports up to 80 percent of its consumer and raw materials needs and dealers said importers were bringing forward their dollar purchases in order to hedge against possible exchange rate losses.
   The naira had climbed 0.7 percent in early trade to 163.55 to the dollar, after Exxonmobil, Chevron and Sinopec's Addax Petroleum sold $135.5 million, but it erased gains to close at 164.50, dealers said.
   It had closed at 163.25 to the dollar on Monday.
   "The decision ... to suspend central bank governor Lamido Sanusi has raised the risk premium on Nigerian assets," Bank of America Merrill Lynch wrote in a note.
   "The central bank will have to work even harder to keep the naira in check," it said.
   The naira has been hovering around record lows since President Goodluck Jonathan suspended Sanusi on Thursday, but financial markets have started to stabilise.
   Shell <RDSa.L> also sold an undisclosed amount of dollars, but total dollar sales on Tuesday were not enough to support the naira, dealers said. The central bank had been intervening in the market since Sanusi's suspension but was not seen in the market on Tuesday, they said.