Naira Appreciates, as Cryptocurrencies Gain Value on Renewed Interest

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E), the Peer-to-Peer (P2P), and the parallel market windows of the foreign exchange market o Wednesday, January 25.

The Naira exchanged hands for N766/$1 in the P2P market during the session, in contrast to the preceding day’s value of N770/$1, indicating an improvement of N4.

In the black market, the domestic currency appreciated against the American currency by N1 to trade at N748/$1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N749/$1.

Also, in the spot market, the local currency appreciated against the greenback by 30 Kobo or 0.06 per cent to sell at N461.70/$1 yesterday, in contrast to the N462.00/$1 it traded on Tuesday amid a slight drop in the FX turnover, according to data from FMDQ Securities Exchange.

Forex transactions valued at $109.82 million were carried during the session, $2.22 million or 1.9 per cent lower than the $112.04 million recorded in the preceding session.

At the interbank segment, the Nigerian currency closed flat against the British Pound Sterling and the Euro yesterday at N567.21/£1 and N500.53/€1, respectively.

The forex market continues to feel the pressure put on the local currency as Nigerians rush to swap their old currencies for the new ahead of a January 31 deadline.

In the cryptocurrency market, it was largely bullish as macroeconomic data suggests this year will be much brighter for the sector that has come under increased scrutiny following a pileup of scams and catastrophes in 2022.

Eight of the 10 benchmarked currencies tracked by Business Post were up amid renewed interest in the asset, with Solana (SOL) jumping by 7.4 per cent to $24.81.

Litecoin (LTC) rose by 4.1 per cent to sell at $90.55, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 3.9 per cent to trade at $0.3761, Ethereum (ETH) improved by 3.7 per cent to $1,620.00, and Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 3.6 per cent to $0.0873.

Further, Bitcoin (BTC) made a 2.9 per cent rise to trade at $23,427.37, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 2.8 per cent to $0.4203, and Binance Coin (BNB) pointed up by 2.2 per cent to sell at $309.09, while Binance USD (BUSD) and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.