Nigeria’s foreign exchange market recorded a stronger performance in the week ended June 19, 2026, with total turnover in the FX Spot and Derivatives markets rising by 7.7% to $2.323 billion, compared to $2.157 billion in the previous week. According to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange, the increase was driven by higher trading activity in both the spot and forward markets.
The FX Spot market remained the dominant segment, accounting for 98.44% of total transactions. Spot turnover increased by 6.8% to $2.286 billion, reflecting continued demand for foreign exchange to support import financing, corporate transactions, and interbank trading. Although total weekly turnover increased, average daily spot turnover declined to $457.39 million from $535.32 million, largely due to a shorter trading week.
The most notable development was in the FX Forward market, where turnover surged by 129.8% to $36.14 million from $15.73 million. This significant increase indicates that more businesses, importers, and financial institutions are using forward contracts to lock in exchange rates and protect themselves against potential fluctuations in the value of the naira.
Despite the increased activity in the foreign exchange market, exchange-traded FX futures remained inactive for the second consecutive week, suggesting that market participants continue to prefer spot transactions and over-the-counter forward contracts.
The rise in FX market activity also contrasted with the performance of the Nigerian equities market, where the NGX All-Share Index declined by 3.59% during the same period. This suggests that foreign exchange trading was driven more by corporate demand, import-related transactions, and currency risk management than by developments in the stock market.
Overall, the data reflects improving liquidity in Nigeria’s official foreign exchange market and growing demand for hedging instruments as businesses continue to manage currency risks under the country’s unified, market-driven exchange rate system introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2023.
