FX turnover drops 30.23% as spot, derivatives decline

The foreign exchange market recorded a sharp contraction in activity as total trading turnover plummeted by 30.23 per cent to $2,366.30m for the week ended 18 September, 2026, according to official data released by FMDQ Group Plc.

The total value of trades executed between authorised bank dealers and their clients dropped by $1,025.34m from $3,391.64m recorded in the preceding week ended 11 September, 2026.

Commenting on the performance of the local foreign exchange market, the Group Chief Operating Officer of FMDQ Group PLC, Ms Tumi Sekoni, noted that “the week-on-week decrease in total turnover was jointly driven by the 21.06 per cent decrease in FX Spot transactions and the 93.74 per cent decrease in FX Derivatives transactions.”

The contraction in market activity was most pronounced in the foreign exchange derivatives segment, where turnover nose-dived by 93.74 per cent from $427.99m in the previous week to $26.78m, with the entire derivatives volume comprising FX Forwards transactions.

Concurrently, turnover in the spot market contracted by 21.06 per cent to $2,339.52m, down from $2,963.65m recorded a week earlier.

Despite the overall decline in trading value, spot transactions dominated market operations, accounting for 98.87 per cent of total turnover for the week, while derivatives constituted the remaining 1.13 per cent.

Daily, average foreign exchange market turnover eased to $473.26m, compared to the daily average of $678.33m posted in the prior week, reflecting reduced liquidity and lower transaction volumes across both bank-to-bank and client trading windows.