Local Currency Falls at I&E, Gains at P2P, Black Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira depreciated against the United States Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday, February 10 by 40 Kobo or 0.09 per cent to close at N461.50/$1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N461.10/$1.

Data obtained by Business Post from FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the local currency came under pressure due to a rise in the demand for forex at the market window.

The value of forex transactions at the I&E segment yesterday stood at $59.40 million compared with the $40.24 million traded on Thursday, representing a surge in the turnover by 47.6 per cent or $19.16 million.

However, in the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) arm of the market, the domestic currency appreciated against the greenback by N5 to trade at N758/$1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N763/$1.

In the same vein, the Nigerian currency gained N2 against the American currency to settle at N749/$1 compared with the previous day’s exchange rate of N751/$1.

But at the interbank window of the market, the Naira closed flat against the British Pound Sterling and the Euro during the session at N560.24/£1 and N496.12/€1, respectively.

Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, the volatility in the ecosystem persistent following comments from US Fed Chair, Mr Jerome Powell, who hinted at ongoing rate hikes.

This weakened Solana (SOL) by 1.8 per cent to $20.41, Ripple (XRP) recorded a 1.3 per cent slide to trade at $0.4092, Bitcoin (BTC) lost 0.8 per cent to close at $21,689.34, while Ethereum (ETH) went down by 1.6 per cent to sell at $1,520.79.

However, Litecoin (LTC) rose by 2.7 per cent to trade at $94.67, Binance Coin (BNB) recorded a 0.4 per cent rise to quote at $308.12, Dogecoin (DOGE) made a 0.3 per cent appreciation to finish at $0.0821, Cardano (ADA) recorded a 0.2 per cent addition to trade at $0.3617, while Binance USD (BUSD) and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) closed flat at $1.00 each.