Naira Trades N410.50/$1 at I&E as Selloffs Hit Cryptos

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated by 0.12 per cent or 50 kobo against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market on Wednesday, April 14.

According to data obtained from the FMDQ Securities Exchange, the value of the Naira closed at N410.50/$1 yesterday in contrast to N411/$1 it closed on Tuesday.

One of the major reasons for the strengthening of the local currency at the market segment at the midweek trading session was due to ease in the pressure on the Naira.

Yesterday, FX worth $21.92 million were transacted at the I&E window, $31.41 million or 58.90 per cent lower than the $53.33 million transacted at the preceding session.

At another segment of the market, the unregulated parallel market, the local currency maintained its stability against the greenback as it closed flat at N482/$1.

However, the Naira was unlucky against both the British Pound Sterling and the Euro, depreciating by N2 against the former to trade at N672/£1 compared with the previous day’s N670/$1 and also lost N2 against the latter to settle at N572/€1 versus the previous compared to N570/$1.

At the interbank segment, where government FX transactions are benchmarked, the exchange rate of the Naira to the Dollar remained unchanged at N379/$1.

Profit-Taking Depresses Cryptos

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was bearish on Wednesday as selloffs dominated the space a day after it was bullish as a result of news that a trading exchange, Coinbase, listed on one of the US Stock Exchanges.

The significant rise recorded at the digital currency market caused profit-taking yesterday and this depressed the value of Bitcoin by 0.2 per cent to N31,389,353.

The Ripple (XRP) went down by 7.6 per cent to sell at N873.47; the Dash (DASH) depreciated by 2.0 per cent to N146,960.10; Tron (TRX) fell by 3.8 per cent to N72.14; while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) slid by 0.3 per cent to sell at N500.10.

However, the Ethereum (ETH) grew by 6.6 per cent to sell at N1,208,999.99; while Litecoin (LTC) appreciated by 0.1 per cent to trade at N137,000.