Naira Appreciates 0.66% on Dollar at Spot Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira had a breather on Monday, July 25 as it appreciated against the United States Dollar at the opening session of the week at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (forex) market.

Despite biting forex crunch, the local currency gained N2.83 or 0.66 per cent against the US Dollar to close at N427.17/$1 compared with the N430.00/$1 it was traded at the spot market last Friday.

Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange revealed that the value of trades at the official market was $89.79 million yesterday, 55.4 per cent or $32 million higher than the $57.79 million achieved in the prior session.

Meanwhile, the value of the Naira to the Dollar depreciated by N4 or 0.6 per cent at the Peer-to-Peer market segment of the forex market yesterday, closing at N671/$1 compared to N667/$1 on record in the previous session.

Also, the domestic currency suffered a loss against the Pound Sterling in the interbank window by N1.45 to trade at N497.44/£1 in contrast to the previous N495.99/£1 and against the Euro, it appreciated by 56 Kobo to settle at N423.49/€1 versus last Friday’s N423.95/€1.

In the parallel market, the woes of the Nigerian currency against its American counterpart continued on Monday as it depreciated to N665/$1 compared with last Friday’s value of N654/$1, indicating a decline of N11 or 1.68 per cent. At midday, it was sold at N660/$1 but it further depleted to the closing price.

As for the crypto market, only the US Dollar Tether (USDT) maintained stability on Monday as its value remained unchanged at $1.00 at the close of transactions.

Other major digital currencies tracked by Business Post shed weight, with TerraClassicUSD (USTC) losing 7.2 per cent to sell for $0.0336 and Ethereum (ETH) falling by 7.1 per cent to quote at $1,421.25 and Solana (SOL) depreciating by 6.4 per cent to $36.35.

Further, Litecoin (LTC) went down by 5.3 per cent to trade at $53.41, Cardano (ADA) dropped 5.1 per cent to close at $0.4683, Dogecoin (DOGE) declined by 4.9 per cent to finish at $0.0619, Binance Coin (BNB) recorded a 4.6 per cent fall to sell at $243.70, Bitcoin (BTC) lost 4.4 per cent to settle at $21,087.91, while Ripple (XRP) retreated by 4.1 per cent to trade at $0.3341.