Naira Appreciates on Dollar Across FX Market Segments

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E), the Peer-to-Peer (P2P), and the black market arms of the foreign exchange (forex) market on Friday, September 29, as a turbulent third quarter ended.

In the official segment, the local currency improved its value against the greenback by 2.6 per cent or N20.04 to close at N755.27/$1, in contrast to the preceding day’s N775.31/$1 amid a drop in the supply of FX into the system by 11.6 per cent or $16.73 million to $127.82 million from the $144.55 million published on Thursday.

In the P2P section, the Nigerian currency firmed higher against its American counterpart during the trading day by N1 to sell at N1,001/$1 versus the previous day’s value of N1,002/$1.

Similarly, the Naira appreciated against the Dollar in the parallel market yesterday by N1 to settle at N1,002/$1 compared with the N1,003/$1 it was exchanged a day earlier.

In the spot market, the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the Pound Sterling and the Euro on the last trading day of the third quarter of the year at N935.93/£1 and N810.14/€1 apiece.

The third quarter of 2023 has been characterised by a string of activities that have affected the FX market, including rising inflation, worrying FX backlogs, and a change to the leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Investors will be looking ahead to what changes will be coming in the final quarter, which is characterised by heavy demand which coincides with the festive season.

In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin (BTC) remains on track to end its six-year streak of September losses, but it recorded a modest pullback ahead of what could be an imminent US federal government shutdown.

The largest crypto by market capitalisation changed hands at $26,937.09, 0.08 per cent lower than its previous trading day’s value, though Ethereum (ETH) appreciated by 1.2 per cent to sell at $1,674.43.

Ripple (XRP) increased by 1.8 per cent to $0.5164, Litecoin (LTC) grew by 0.5 per cent to $65.66, Solana (SOL) went up by 0.4 per cent to $20.20, Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 0.3 per cent to $0.0619, Cardano (ADA) increased by 0.2 per cent to $0.2508, and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) rose by 0.01 per cent to $0.9999.

However, Binance Coin (BNB) depreciated by 0.02 per cent to sell for $215.00, while Binance USD (BUSD) traded flat at $1.00.