Naira Falls Further to N414.73/$1 at Spot Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira depreciated against the American currency for yet another session at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday by 0.1 per cent or 43 kobo to N414.73/$1 from the previous day’s rate of N414.30/$1.

A significant increase in the demand for forex at the spot market compounded the woes of the Nigerian currency yesterday as the supply side of the curve could not satisfy the demand side.

Data obtained by Business Post showed that transactions valued at $266.32 million were executed at the market window compared with the $122.15 million carried out a day earlier, indicating a rise by $144.17 million or 118.0 per cent.

However, the domestic currency recorded a marginal appreciation against the US Dollar at the interbank segment of the market as it closed at N410.81/$1 in contrast to N410.82/$1 of the previous day, indicating a one kobo gain.

But at the black market, the Naira was traded at N570/$1 as against the N562/$1 it was transacted at the preceding trading day, indicating that the local currency is still under pressure despite efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stabilise the FX market in the country, though the bank has advised those in need of forex to approach the regulated channels.

Meanwhile, at the cryptocurrency market, six of the 10 digital currencies tracked closed positive with Bitcoin (BTC) rising by 6.9 per cent to close at N31,160,638.61.

The bullish momentum in the price of Bitcoin came from a lot of positive on-chain analytics data that points to the net accumulation of the token.

Litecoin (LTC) grew by 3.1 per cent to sell at N101,567.92, Dash (DASH) rose by 2.2 per cent to trade at N104,959.51, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 1.5 per cent to close at N609.46, Ethereum (ETH) gained 0.9 per cent to close at N1,977,396.00, while Cardano (ADA) jumped by 0.3 per cent to N1,334.95.

Conversely, Dogecoin (DOGE) fell by 1.8 per cent to N150.33, Tron (TRX) dropped 1.5 per cent to N53.76, US Dollar Tether (USDT) depreciated by 1.5 per cent N569.78, while Binance Coin (BNB) lost 1.4 per cent to finish at N179,185.39.