By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and the parallel market segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, July 12, but depreciated in the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) window.
In the official market, the domestic currency gained N5.93 or 0.75 per cent against the greenback in the midweek session to settle at N782.49/$1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N788.42/$1.
This feat was achieved amid improvement in the supply of forex into the system, with the turnover for the trading day rising by 32.9 per cent or $22.42 million to $90.52 million from the $68.10 million recorded at the preceding session.
Also, the Nigerian currency put up a better performance against its American counterpart in the black market yesterday, strengthening its value by N2 to quote at N800/$1, in contrast to Tuesday’s exchange rate of N802/$1.
However, the Naira was not lucky at the P2P, as its value shrank by N8.60 yesterday to close at N810.40/$1 versus the previous day’s rate of N801.80/$1.
The Naira also witnessed a depreciating outcome against the Pound Sterling at the spot market on Wednesday, as it was weaker by N56.01 to settle at N1,013.82/£1 versus N957.81/£1 and against the Euro, it fell by N43.44 to trade at N863.77/€1 compared with Tuesday’s N820.34/€1.
In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin (BTC) and a host of other currencies tracked by Business Post traded down as markets reacted to inflation subsiding further in the US consumer after prices rose modestly in June and registered their smallest annual increase in more than two years.
However, there were no indications that it will be enough to deter the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, from resuming raising interest rates this month.
BTC slid 1.2 per cent to sell at $30,271.79, Ethereum (ETH) shed 0.9 per cent to trade at $1,864.69, Cardano (ADA) dropped 2.4 per cent to quote at $0.287, Binance Coin (BNB) also fell by 2.4 per cent to $243.17, and Solana (SOL) slumped by 2.1 per cent to $21.51.
In addition, Dogecoin (DOGE) made a 0.9 per cent depreciation to sell at $0.0647, Ripple (XRP) recorded a 0.6 per cent fall to trade at $04722, and Litecoin (LTC) went down by 0.4 per cent to $96.51, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) traded flat at $1.00 each.
Dipo Olowookere