By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated by 4 kobo or 0.01 per cent against the United States Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (forex) market on Thursday.
It was the first trading session after the two-day hiatus to mark the Sallah holidays and it was enough break for the local currency to ease off the pressure it has come under lately.
At the close of business yesterday, the domestic currency was exchanged at N411.63/$1 in contrast to N411.67/$1 it ended on Monday.
It was observed that the value of FX transactions at the I&E window eased by $30.36 million or 18.1 per cent on Thursday traders traded $137.83 million compared with the preceding day’s $168.19 million.
Business Post reports that at the other segments of the market, there was stability as the Naira retained its previously traded rate against the greenback, except for the interbank window.
At the unregulated segment of the market, traders exchanged the Naira at N503/$1 to their customers, but it was observed that the local currency appreciated by N2 against the British Pound Sterling to N703/£1 from N705/£1.
Also, the domestic currency appreciated by N2 against the Euro at the parallel market yesterday to N590/€1 from the previous session’s N592/€1.
However, at the interbank window of the forex market, the Nigerian currency depreciated against the Dollar by one kobo to sell at N410.14/$1 compared to N410.13/$1 it closed on Monday.
Cryptos see a fresh appetite
There was a renewed interest for digital currencies on Thursday, with the Tron (TRX) jumping by 5.2 per cent to N28.40.
Litecoin (LTC) appreciated by 2.6 per cent to trade at N61,499.00, Ethereum (ETH) grew by 2.3 per cent to sell at N992,640.01, Ripple (XRP) gained 1.9 per cent to quote at N303.45, while Bitcoin (BTC) appreciated by 1.5 per cent to N16,470,028.02.
However, Dash (DASH) lost 1.3 per cent to sell at N73,999.00, while the United States Dollar Tether (USDT) dropped 0.2 per cent to sell for N512.79.