LAGOS: Nigerian naira fell sharply against the dollar, shortly after the forex market opened on Thursday, a day after the interbank market soaked up a large dollar sale by the state-oil company.

The unit opened at 189.30 naira to the dollar and quickly fell 1.56 percent to 192.30 by 0841 GMT. The naira closed at 186 on Wednesday.

State-oil company NNPC on Wednesday sold around $350 million to some lenders, boosting interbank market dollar liquidity.

Copyright Reuters, 2015