Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira finished stronger against the Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange market on Tuesday, November 24.
The exchange rate appreciated by 0.13 per cent or 50 kobo in favour of the Nigerian currency to N385.50/$1 as against the previous rate of N386/$1 at the window.
Demand wise, there was a higher demand for the Dollar but the supply was enough to soak the pressure, giving room for the Naira to close stronger.
During the session, transactions worth $163.87 million were recorded, 72.0 per cent or $118.03 million higher than the $45.84 million achieved the previous day.
At the interbank window of the forex market, the Naira to Dollar exchange rate was flat N379/$1, while at the Bureaux De Change (BDC) segment, the domestic currency traded flat against the United States currency at N386/$1.
A look at the parallel market yesterday showed that the exchange rate of the Naira to the greenback remained unchanged at N483/$1.
On Tuesday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, tackled players at the sector, describing FX window as “a shadow market”, adding that it made up less than five per cent of the market share.
Speaking after the monthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Tuesday, the apex bank chief said it was wrong for analysts to quote black market forex rate because it was an illegal source where people who indulge in corrupt practices get their forex.
He instead urged that they should quote the government regulated interbank or the I&E forex rates.
Market analysts, however, noted that the demand for the greenback could not be met by these regulated channels and Nigerians had to have their Dollar demands satisfied elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the domestic currency closed flat against the Pound Sterling at N620 at the black market but depreciated against the Euro by N5 to close at N570/$1 versus the previous’ day rate of N565/€1.
Meanwhile, at the cryptocurrency market, the popular Bitcoin (BTC) value showed no sign of slowing down as it further moved up by 4.5 per cent to sell at N9,400,999.99 on Tuesday.
The Litecoin (LTC) appreciated by 2.5 per cent to N43,996.04, Dash (DASH) rose by 15.1 per cent to trade at N55,814.19, Ripple (XRP) went up by 3.9 per cent to sell at N328.5, Tron (TRX) sold for N17.96 after moving up by 8.4 per cent, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) made a 0.4 per cent appreciation to close at N487.88
The only loser was Ethereum (ETH) which recorded a 2.8 per cent slide to sell N297,339.60.
