Naira Gains 0.16% at I&E as Bitcoin, Solana, Others Fall

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange (forex) market by 0.16 per cent or 67 kobo on Tuesday, February 22.

The local currency was sold for N416.00/$1 yesterday, according to data obtained from the FMDQ Securities Exchange, as against the previous day’s value of N416.67/$1.

The strengthening of the domestic currency occurred despite coming under FX demand pressure, though the turnover for the session slightly waned.

Business Post reports that transactions worth $138.95 million were recorded during the session as against the $141.31 million recorded at the preceding session, indicating a $2.36 million or 1.7 per cent slump in the daily turnover of the I&E FX market.

In the same trend, the domestic currency appreciated by N1 against the greenback at the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) market on Tuesday as it traded at N573/$1 versus N574/$1 it was exchanged on Monday.

But at the official exchange rate window, the Nigerian currency depreciated against the Pound Sterling by N2.50 yesterday to sell for N567.08/£1 in contrast to the previous rate of N564.58/£1.

However, the Naira appreciated by 8 kobo against the Euro during the session to exchange at N472.56/€1 compared with N472.64/€1 it was traded a day earlier.

Meanwhile, the digital token market continued to trade lower amid rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine as well as continued inflationary fears.

Also, a possible exploit of OpenSea, the leading NFT platform in the world, may have further frightened investors away from crypto.

At the market on Tuesday, Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 6.7 per cent to trade at N404.85, Cardano (ADA) lost 4.5 per cent to sell for N528.43, Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 3.6 per cent down to trade at N76.67, while Litecoin (LTC) declined by 2.4 per cent to settle at N62,038.61.

Further, Solana (SOL) went down by 1.8 per cent to trade at N50,897.42, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 1.4 per cent to close at N1,546,732.18, Binance Coin (BNB) recorded a 0.9 per cent loss to trade at N154,098.10, Bitcoin (BTC) closed at N22,200,376.02 after a 0.6 per cent fall, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) decreased by 0.1 per cent to quote at N586.82.

However, Dash (DASH) appreciated by 0.4 per cent to sell for N53,202.39.