By Adedapo Adesanya
The local currency depreciated against the US Dollar at both the parallel and Investors and Exporters (I&E) segments of the foreign exchange (forex) market on Friday, August 6.
At the black market, which caters for FX demands not met at government-regulated channels, the Naira dropped N2 in value on the US currency as it sold for N510/$1 compared with N508/$1 it quoted on Thursday.
However, the Nigerian currency recorded a different outcome at the same unregulated segment of the market against the Pound Sterling and the Euro as it closed yesterday at N705/£1 and N598/€1 respectively.
At the I&E window, the domestic currency had a bad day as it depreciated against the greenback on Friday by 25 kobo or 0.06 per cent to sell at N411.50/$1 in contrast to N411.25/$1 it was traded a day earlier.
It was observed that the Naira came under demand pressure, which resulted in the decline in suffered in the hands of the American currency during the session.
Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the demand for FX rose sharply yesterday by 81.5 per cent or $84.56 million to $188.26 million from $103.70 million recorded on Thursday.
But at the interbank window, the Nigerian legal tender sustained its stability against the greenback at the last trading session of this week at it remained at N410.11/$1.
Renewed Interests Push Cryptos Higher
As for the digital currency market, there were gains in the ecosystem as six out of seven tokens tracked by Business Post were in the positive region.
This happened as investors renewed their interest in the asset which has been down in the last few months.
Bitcoin (BTC) recorded a 5.8 per cent appreciation to close at N21,721,742.10, Ethereum (ETH) made a 3.1 per cent rise to close at N1,482,999.93, while Ripple (XRP) jumped by 1.9 per cent to trade at N383.98.
In addition, Litecoin (LTC) rose by 1.7 per cent to trade at N72,600.00, Tron (TRX) increased by 5.2 per cent to sell at N37.49, while Dash (DASH) appreciated by 8.3 per cent to sell at N85,000.
However, the US Dollar Tether (USDT) depreciated yesterday by 0.8 per cent to settle at N510.60.
Modupe Gbadeyanka