Nigerian naira flat amid weak demand for dollar

Nigeria's naira was unchanged against the dollar on the interbank market on Monday, amid a slowdown in demand for the greenback from forex bureaux trying to meet increased capital requirements imposed by the central bank.
The naira closed at 162.75 to the dollar, the same level it closed at on Friday.
Traders said a unit of Eni sold about $5 million in the market and coupled with weak dollar demand, the naira closed flat.
The central bank tightened up rules around forex bureaux towards the end of last month, ordering them to increase their capital base to 35 million naira, from an existing 5 million naira, and asking them to register themselves again.
It said it did this to curb abuses by currency speculators, but also to tackle money laundering.
Traders said the naira should trade within the prevailing range in the week as the market anticipates dollar sales by the state-owned energy company NNPC.