Naira Appreciates at Black Market, Depreciates at I&E

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira recorded a mixed performance against the United States Dollar at the various segments of the foreign exchange (forex) market in Nigeria on Thursday.

Business Post reports that while the Nigerian currency appreciated at the unregulated segment of the market, it depreciated at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window and closed flat at the interbank category, which is the official FX window for the country.

At the parallel market yesterday, the local currency was strengthened against the three major foreign currencies it pairs with; Dollar, Pound Sterling and the Euro.

Against the greenback, the domestic currency gained N1 on Thursday to trade at N485/$1 in contrast to the previous day’s rate of N486/$1.

Against the Pound Sterling, the local currency was strengthened by N4 to quote at N672/£1 compared with N676/£1 it was sold on Wednesday and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency appreciated by N2 to sell at N573/€1 versus N575/€1 it traded previously.

But at the I&E window, the Naira lost 63 kobo or 0.15 per cent against the American currency to quote at N409.30/$1 as against N408.67/$1 it was exchanged a day before.

The depreciation of the domestic currency was influenced by a slight increase in the day’s turnover, $180,000 or 0.51 per cent, as transactions worth $35.55 million were carried out in contrast to $35.37 million achieved on Wednesday.

At the interbank, the Naira to Dollar exchange rate remained at N379/$1 on Thursday.

Meanwhile, at the cryptocurrency market yesterday, the bullish performance was sustained as Bitcoin (BTC) gained 0.1 per cent to trade at N29,027,955.35.

The Ethereum appreciated by 7.0 per cent to sell at N995,900.00; the Litecoin (LTC) moved up by 3.8 per cent to N98,997.13;  the Dash (DASH) rose by 0.5 per cent to sell at N115,600.20; the Ripple (XRP) improved by 1.3 per cent to quote at N282.10; while the Tron (TRX) climbed higher by 3.7 per cent to N44.21.

However, the US Dollar Tether (USDT) was not lucky as its value went down by 0.9 per cent on Thursday to close at N495.88.