Dollar drops below N400/$ for the first time in seven months

For the first time in seven months, the dollar fell below the psychological N400 barrier, when the greenback traded at N399 to the dollar in Lagos and exchanged at N395 in Abuja, lower than N410 at which it traded on Tuesday. 

Thisday reports

With the gains made by the local currency in the last five weeks, the naira inched closer to one of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) key foreign exchange policy objectives of an exchange rate convergence.

The naira trades for N375 to the greenback for invisibles and at N307 to the dollar on the FX interbank market, the official window for manufacturers and importers of raw materials eligible to buy FX from this segment of the market.

The last time the naira traded at between N395 and N400 to the dollar on the parallel market was in August 2016.

The significant gains made by the naira on the parallel market, according to market analysts, was a reflection of the improved confidence in the FX market, following the sustained dollar interventions by the CBN since last month.

One analyst also attributed the gains made by naira to the Bureau de Change (BDC) operators that are awash with dollars and with little or no customers to patronise them.

He said several retail customers who used to resort to the BDCs (which realistically fund the parallel market) to fund invisible transactions now get to buy dollars at a lower rate from the banks.

“The BDCs are awash with cash. Remember that the central bank sold about $200,000 to each BDC at some point and they had also bought dollars at high rates which they hoarded, thinking that the naira would remain in a free fall.

“But with the CBN’s intervention, they are stuck with loads of dollars and little or no customers, so they have stopped buying dollars and are looking for avenues to offload what they bought at ridiculously high rates.

“Essentially, the speculative attacks on the naira has come back to haunt them and they’ve got their fingers burnt,” he said.

In all, the central bank has auctioned a total of $1.895 billion through forward sales, as well as targeted intervention for invisibles.

This amount does not include its daily intervention of $1.5 million on the interbank market.

The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday expressed optimism about the convergence of the FX rates on the official and parallel markets, stating that the gains made by the naira against the greenback in the last five weeks was not a fluke.

Emefiele said he was happy that the central bank’s intervention was yielding positive results.

“I am happy, indeed very gratified, that the interventions have been positive, we have seen the rates now converging and we are strongly optimistic that the rates will converge further.

“In terms of sustainability, I think it’s important for us to say that the foreign reserves at this time are still trending upwards to almost $31 billion as I speak with you.

President Trump Travel Ban Halted by Hawaii court

A United States federal judge in Hawaii has issued an emergency temporary halt to President Donald Trump's revised travel ban, just a day before it was set to go into effect.

The decision means that travellers from the six Muslim-majority countries covered by the ban will still be able to travel to the US.

US District Judge Derrick Watson put an emergency stop to the new order in response to a lawsuit filed by the state of Hawaii, which argued the order discriminated against Muslims in violation of the constitution.

The new ban, signed by the President on March 6, had aimed to overcome legal problems with a January executive order that caused chaos at airports and sparked mass protests before a Washington judge stopped its enforcement in February.

Will the Samsung Galaxy s8 have a dual camera?

Samsung Exynos twitter handle says it's next generation chip the 8895 will be able to handle dual camera. 

IPhone 7,LG G5, LG G6 all have dual cameras for better zooming and to capture more details when taking a picture. 

Amazon chief to announce new space exploration plans

Private aerospace company Blue Origin set up by Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos is expected to unveil plans this week for future space explorations, according to industry officials.

It is part of the company’s ambitious plan to create rockets powerful enough to reach the outermost corners of the solar system.

Unnamed officials said Bezos might reveal details of Blue Origin’s project to build a family of reusable rockets to conduct both manned and robotic missions to the Moon and other planets.

‘Martian’ meteorites smashed open to prove Red Planet was wetter than we thought

Research into simulated Martian meteorites indicates that Mars was once far wetter than we thought. The implications of this study are huge as it not only means that Mars could have supported life in the past, but could potentially do so again in future.

Scientists have long studied whether Mars held any substantial bodies of water as this would definitively prove that the planet was once at least capable of supporting life, even if life never actually fully formed.

THAAD Missile Defense System arrives in South Korea

The first pieces of a US-built missile defense system designed to mitigate the threat of North Korean missiles arrived at the Osan Air Base in South Korea Monday night, according to the US military.

The announcement comes just a day after North Korea test-fired four ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea.

China has voiced opposition to the proposed placement of the military hardware known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system , which it sees as a threat to its own security.

With North Korea upping the amount of missile and nuclear tests last year, the US and South Korea have publicly stressed the need to speed up the deployment of the technology.

It's designed to shoot down incoming missiles that threaten civilian populations, akin to shooting a bullet with another bullet in simple terms, experts say.

President Trump's Travel Ban

The Nigerian presidency has warned its citizens not to travel to the US amid ongoing uncertainty over Donald Trump's executive order banning immigration from certain Muslim-majority countries.

Nigeria is not on the list of six countries affected by Mr Trump's so-called travel ban executive order, but the special assistant to the President on foreign affairs and the diaspora said in a statement that several Nigerians with valid visas have been refused entry to the US.

Abike Dabiri-Erewa said their visas were cancelled when they landed in the US and they were put on return flights.