Despite Rise in FX Turnover, Naira Gains 0.02% as Cryptos Fall

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Monday, February 21 amid a significant increase in the value of transactions.

Data obtained from the FMDQ Securities Exchange indicated that the Nigerian currency gained 0.02 per cent or 8 kobo against the greenback yesterday as it was traded at N416.67/$1 compared with the preceding session’s N416.75/$1.

The FX turnover for the opening trading session of the week stood at $141.31 million as against the $64.03 million published at the preceding session, implying an increase by $77.28 million or 120.7 per cent.

For yet another session, at the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) category of the forex market, the exchange rate of the Naira to the United States Dollar remained flat at N574/$1.

At the spot market, the local currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling by 6 kobo to trade at N567.08£1 compared with N567.14/£1 it was traded last Friday. The domestic currency also appreciated against the Euro at the same market window yesterday by 52 kobo to settle at N472.56/€1 in contrast to N473.08/€1 of the preceding session.

At the cryptocurrency market, investors counted more losses on the back of profit-taking caused by the Russia-Ukraine row, leaving seven of the 10 digital assets tracked by Business Post to land in the negative territory.

The three gainers were led by Ethereum (ETH) with a price appreciation of 2.1 per cent to trade at N1,574,192.00, Bitcoin (BTC) made a 0.2 per cent gain to close at N22,234,897.45, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) improved by 0.1 per cent to sell for N588.92.

On the losers’ end, Dash (DASH) slid by 5.0 per cent to trade at N53,302.08, Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 2.6 per cent to close at N487.58, Solana (SOL) went down by 2.5 per cent to sell at N52,702.64, Binance Coin (BNB) retreated by 1.7 per cent to N154,056.78, Cardano (ADA) fell by 1.0 per cent to N552.35, Dogecoin (DOGE) declined by 0.9 per cent to trade at N80.06, while Litecoin (LTC) contracted by 0.3 per cent to sell at N65,463.05.