Nigeria's naira seen weaker on parallel market

Nigeria's naira is expected to hold steady next week, with central bank dollar sales expected to help narrow the gap between the official pegged level and the parallel market.
But analysts said it would be difficult for the central bank to sustain this action over the longer term.
The naira has traded at 197 to the dollar on the interbank market, the official peg introduced by the central bank in February to curb speculation, stem the naira depreciation and conserve foreign exchange reserves.
On the parallel market, the naira was trading at 219 to the dollar, down from 211 a dollar last week, but was expected to stabilise next week, traders said.
"The stringent order-based system and restrictions on two-way trade leave the local exchange unit unable to reflect global market turmoil and a sell-off in domestic equities," NKC Africa economics said in its notes on Thursday.
Nigeria pegs its exchange rate at 197 to the dollar and abolished twice-weekly auction of forex in February in the wake of falling oil prices, leading to a rapid depreciation of the local currency on the parallel market.