By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira opened the new week on a negative note against the US Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E), black market, and the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) arms of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Monday, September 18.
The Nigerian Naira lost 2.26 per cent or N17.07 against the greenback during the trading session to quote at N773.98/$1, in contrast to the preceding day’s value of N756.91/$1.
The weakening of the local currency was influenced by the incessant forex supply issues, as the value of transactions grew by 39.9 per cent or $18.34 million to $64.22 million from the previous session’s $45.88 million.
In the P2P window, the domestic currency depleted against the Dollar yesterday by N3 to sell at N971/$1 compared with the previous trading session’s rate of N968/$1.
It was not different in the parallel market, with the Naira losing N4 against the American currency on Monday to close at N964/$1, in contrast to last Friday’s exchange rate of N960/$1.
Also, the Naira depreciated against the Pound Sterling yesterday in the official market by N6.64 to settle at N961.41/£1 versus the previously traded rate of N954.77/£1 and slumped by N8.57 against the Euro to close at N828.58/€1 compared with the preceding session’s N820.01/€1.
In the cryptocurrency market, there were gains recorded among the major coins, but investors will continue to worry after bankrupt crypto exchange FTX received court approval last week to sell its crypto holdings of around $3.4 billion, which could add to the selling pressure in the crypto market.
Bitcoin (BTC) improved its value by 0.4 per cent to $26,789.00, Ethereum (ETH) appreciated by 0.2 per cent to sell at $1,634.75, Solana (SOL) went up by 3.3 per cent to $19.79, Litecoin (LTC) grew by 2.9 per cent to trade at $66.97, Ripple (XRP) rose by 2.7 per cent to $0.5072, Cardano (ADA) jumped by 1.8 per cent to $0.2535, Dogecoin (DOGE) chalked up 0.7 per cent to sell at $0.0624, and Binance USD (BUSD) gained 0.04 to quote at $1.00.
However, Binance Coin (BNB) lost 0.4 per cent to trade at $216.48, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) traded flat at $1.00.
Dipo Olowookere