By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira moved in different ways against the United States Dollar at the foreign exchange (forex) market segments on Monday, appreciating in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, and losing in the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and parallel market segments.
In the P2P forex window, the value of the Nigerian currency against its American counterpart went down by N4 to N742/$1 from N738/$1 and in the black market, it lost N2 to trade at N722/$1 in contrast to last Friday’s value of N720/$1.
But at the spot market, the local currency appreciated against the greenback by 33 Kobo or 0.08 per cent to settle at N436.00/$1 compared with the preceding session’s N436.33/$1.
Business Post reports that the turnover in the I&E segment, according to data from FMDQ Securities Exchange, was $78.10 million on Monday, $28.01 million or 26.4 per cent lower than the preceding session’s $106.11 million.
In the interbank segment, the Naira gained N24.03 against Pound Sterling yesterday to sell for N463.96/£1 compared with N487.99/£1. This happened as the British currency crashed to a record low against the US Dollar on Monday on growing fears about the stability of UK government finances.
The currency slump follows British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Kwasi Kwarteng’s announcement on Friday that the United Kingdom would implement the biggest tax cuts in 50 years while boosting government borrowing and spending in the face of high inflation.
Equally, the local currency gained N9.51 against the Euro to settle at N416.15/€1 versus N425.66/€1 after it also hit a 20-year low after Giorgia Meloni claimed victory in a general election in Italy, raising worries about the future of the European Union (EU).
The cryptocurrency market recorded a northward movement as seven of the 10 tracked tokens were up as the market found solace in riskier assets, as the US Dollar performed at a 20-year best on Monday.
Solana (SOL) led the pack as it appreciated by 7.8 per cent to settle at $34.67, Ethereum (ETH) grew by 6.8 per cent to sell at $1,378.95, Bitcoin (BTC) jumped by 6.7 per cent to $20,044.45, Binance Coin (BNB) recorded a 4.7 per cent appreciation to trade at $284.48, Litecoin (LTC) moved higher by 3.8 per cent to $54.80, Cardano (ADA) went up by 3.4 per cent to $0.4568, while Dogecoin (DOGE) made a 2.0 per cent rise to trade at $0.0622.
However, Ripple (XRP) lost 0.3 per cent to trade at $0.4756, while Binance USD (BUSD) and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) closed flat at $1.00, respectively.
