Nigeria’s foreign exchange market recorded a rebound in trading activity in the week ended September 25, 2026, with total turnover rising 11.02% to $2.627 billion as spot transactions recovered and forward contracts posted a sharp percentage increase.
Nairametrics’ review of the latest FMDQ FX Market Report for the week ended September 25 shows that total turnover across the FX Spot and Derivatives markets increased by $260.85 million from $2.366 billion in the week ended September 18, 2026.
Average daily turnover rose to $525.43 million from $473.26 million in the preceding week, representing an increase of $52.17 million, or about 11.0%.
FX Spot remained the dominant segment and accounted for most of the week’s increase, while FX Derivatives posted faster percentage growth from a much smaller base.
Spot transactions were roughly 66 times the size of Derivatives turnover during the week, with the latter contributing only about 4.8% of the overall increase despite its 46.42% jump.
The rebound in forward transactions remained small in absolute terms, indicating that hedging activity has only partly recovered from the sharp decline recorded in the preceding week.
The naira remained relatively stable around N1,330/$ during the latest week, supported by improved FX liquidity and external reserves that have crossed $55 billion, their highest level in more than 18 years.
Forward contracts allow businesses to agree on an exchange rate for settlement at a future date and are typically used to hedge against currency fluctuations rather than to source dollars for immediate delivery.
Despite the recovery in forwards, spot transactions continued to account for nearly 99% of total FX turnover, leaving the market heavily concentrated in transactions for immediate delivery.
The rate decision came with headline inflation at 15.39% in August.
With Spot trading still accounting for nearly 99% of turnover, market watchers will be looking to see whether the tentative recovery in forward contracts continues in the coming weeks or whether hedging demand remains subdued as the naira stays relatively stable.
