Naira Slumps at Peer-to-Peer, Gains at I&E, Black Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira depreciated against the US Dollar in the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) segment of the foreign exchange (forex) market on Tuesday but appreciated in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and the black market windows during the session.

Traders exchanged their local currency for the American currency at N750/$1 in the P2P category of the FX market versus N749/$1 it sold in the previous session, indicating that it slumped by N1 at the close of business.

However, in the official market, the domestic currency appreciated against the greenback yesterday by 67 Kobo or 0.14 per cent to trade at N462.33/$1 compared with last Friday’s closing value of N463.00/$1.

It was the first trading session of the week due to the Workers’ Day holiday observed on Monday, and there was not much forex demand pressure on the Nigerian currency.

The value of FX transactions recorded on Tuesday, according to the FMDQ Securities Exchange, was $46.04 million, 35.8 per cent or $25.64 million lower than the $71.68 million reported in the preceding session.

In the parallel market, the Naira gained N1 against the United States Dollar yesterday to quote at N738/$1, in contrast to the previous trading session’s exchange rate of N739/$1.

In the interbank segment, the Nigerian Naira lost 71 Kobo against the Pound Sterling on Tuesday to close at N574.77/£1 versus its previous rate of N574.06/£1 but appreciated against the Euro by N1.68 to sell at N506.11/€1 compared with last Friday’s value of N507.79/€1.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) traded above $28,500 in the crypto market yesterday as investors prepare for tomorrow’s Federal Reserve interest rate decision. The US central bank is expected to increase rates by 0.25 per cent, despite the U.S. economy slowing down.

BTC, which is the most valued crypto, added 1.8 per cent to sell at $28,516.07, while its closest rival, Ethereum (ETH) went up by 1.7 per cent to $1,861.98.

Litecoin (LTC) rose by 1.1 per cent to $87.69, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 0.5 per cent to $04637, Cardano (ADA) improved by 0.3 per cent to $0.3868, and Solana (SOL) chalked up 0.2 per cent to sell at $21.86.

Conversely, Binance Coin (BNB) fell by 0.4 per cent to trade at $324.70, and Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 0.2 per cent to $0.0784, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.