Naira Crashes to N755/$1 at P2P, Appreciates at Official, Parallel Markets

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira closed weaker against the United States currency on Wednesday, April 19, at the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) window but recorded a stronger outcome at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and the parallel market sides of the foreign exchange market.

In the P2P arm of the market, the Nigerian Naira lost N5 against the Dollar during the midweek session to settle at N755/$1, in contrast to the N750/$1 it was exchanged on Tuesday.

But in the official market, the Naira appreciated against its American counterpart by 75 Kobo or 0.16 per cent to trade at N462.50/$1 compared with the previous day’s exchange rate of N463.25/$1 as the forex turnover for the session broadly went up by 55.1 per cent or $52.57 million to $148.02 million from Tuesday’s $95.45 million.

Also, in the black market, the domestic currency was strengthened against the greenback yesterday by N2 to sell at N737/$1 compared with the preceding day’s value of N739/$1.

However, in the interbank wing of the FX market, the local currency was down against the Pound Sterling at the midweek session by N1.18 to close at N573.84/£1 versus N572.66/£1 and against the Euro, it shed N16.70 to trade at N505.75/€1 compared with N489.05/€1 it ended on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the digital currency market recorded a negative outcome on Wednesday as most of the tokens tracked by Business Post had red stains on them.

Bitcoin (BTC) lost 3.9 per cent to finish at $29,162.21, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 5.9 per cent to end at $1,966.76, Litecoin (LTC) depreciated by 8.7 per cent to trade at $92.41, Solana (SOL) shed 7.9 per cent to sell at $22.83, and Ripple (XRP) recorded a 5.9 per cent slide to quote at $0.4913.

Further, Cardano (ADA) shrank by 5.8 per cent to $0.4158, Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 5.5 per cent to $323.76, and Dogecoin (DOGE) declined by 5.4 per cent to $0.0879, while Binance USD (BUSD) and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.