Naira Appreciates at I&E Amid 340.81% Surge in FX Trades

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday.

It was the first growth the local currency recorded against the greenback since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) devalued the country’s legal tender in an attempt to converge all the exchange rates.

Data from FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the domestic currency gained N39.15 or 5.6 per cent against its American counterpart yesterday to settle at N663.04/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N702.19/$1, though the highest spot bid remained N791/$1.

The Nigerian currency firmed during the session amid a significant surge in the value of forex transactions, rising by 340.81 per cent or $241.09 million to $311.83 million from $70.74 million.

Also, the Naira improved its value against the Dollar in the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) window by N2 yesterday to settle at N770/$1 compared with Thursday’s closing price of N772/$1.

But in the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira lost N2 against the US Dollar on Friday to sell at N756/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s value of N754/$1.

In the interbank window, the local currency gained N50.80 against the Pound Sterling yesterday to quote at N749.59/£1 compared with Thursday’s N800.39/£ and appreciated by N42.76 against the Euro to trade at N641.26/€1 versus N684.02/€1.

Yesterday, cryptocurrency investors remained cautious due to the regulatory overhang as Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced that it was exiting the Netherlands after it failed to acquire a key license in the European country.

However, this did not affect Bitcoin (BTC), which jumped by 4.4 per cent to $26,629.47, as Ethereum (ETH) improved by 5.5 per cent to $1,755.39, and Solana (SOL) increased by 7.8 per cent to $16.01.

Cardano (ADA) rose by 3.7 per cent to $0.2729, Binance Coin (BNB) added 3.5 per cent to sell for $246.65, Litecoin (LTC) went up by 3.3 per cent to $77.51, and Dogecoin (DOGE) appreciated by 1.6 per cent to $0.0628.

But Ripple (XRP) recorded a 0.1 per cent loss to trade at $0.4802, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.