REPORT FROM REUTERS: Wrapping up a monetary policy speech last week, Nigerian central bank governor Godwin Emefiele declared that the naira, which has crumpled to 190 to the dollar with the drop in oil prices, was "appropriately priced".
However, when currency dealers in Lagos and other financial centres in Africa and Europe got to work the next morning and turned on their computers, many were surprised to find the naira wasn't priced at all, let alone "appropriately".
Instead, as they stared at their screens, for three hours traders were presented with blank spaces where normally they see the 'bids' and 'offers' that determine the market price of the currency of Africa's biggest oil producer and largest economy.
Rather than a computer glitch or power outage -- common hiccups in any frontier market -- the lack of prices was deliberate: all Nigeria's banks were refusing to trade while their top dealers met behind closed doors to chew over Emefiele's pronouncements, according to those involved.
Among the decisions reached by the Financial Markets Dealers Association (FMDA), as the club of 40 banks, discount houses and brokerages is known, was an unofficial 'circuit-break' agreement to halt trade if the naira fell more than 2 percent in a day.
FMDA chief executive Wale Abe insisted no central bank officials were present at Wednesday's meeting and said it was an entirely voluntary measure to curb volatility, in line with the body's support for financial market stability and maturity.
However, the impromptu trading interruption runs counter to that objective, while the seemingly ad hoc decisions from a collective of rival banks raise questions about transparency, with some analysts suspecting hidden central bank regulation.
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