LAGOS: Nigeria's naira eased against the dollar on Wednesday owing to a shortage of the US currency on the interbank market amid a reduction in the central bank's supply at a forex auction, dealers said.
The local unit closed at 164.05 naira to the dollar on Wednesday, down 0.85 percent from 162.65 naira the previous day.
The central bank sold $400 million at its twice-weekly forex auction on Wednesday, down from $600 million it sold on Monday, its highest sale in two years.
The central bank has been battling to support the naira, which has lost more than 2 percent this year pressured by a surge in dollar demand from offshore investors selling assets amid a wider emerging market pullback.
"We see the naira falling further by the end of the week if the central bank fails to intervene and (there are) no large sales from oil companies," one dealer said.
Dollar sales from oil firms have slowed in the past few days while the central bank did not intervene at the interbank on Wednesday, piling up demand pressure on the ailing naira currency, dealers said.
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