Naira Crashes to N770.38/$1 At Official Market as FX Rates Slowly Converge

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian Naira weakened on the American Dollar across the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) and the Investors and Exporters (I&E) windows of the foreign exchange window on Monday, June 19, with the closing disparity in the rates showing that the floating of the currency was yielding results.

In the official market, which is the I&E segment, the local currency lost 16.2 per cent or N107.34 to quote at N770.38/$1 compared with last Friday’s exchange rate of N663.04/$1.

This occurred amid a decline in the forex turnover by 74.98 per cent or $233.80 million to $78.03 million from the $70.74 million recorded in the preceding trading session.

Equally, in the P2P window, the Nigerian currency posted a N2 loss against the United States currency on Monday to sell at N772/$1 versus N770/$1 of the preceding trading session.

In the same vein, the domestic currency depreciated against the US Dollar in the black market by N13 yesterday to sell at N769/$1 compared with the preceding session’s N756/$1.

But in the interbank segment of the market, the Naira closed flat against the Pound Sterling and the Euro at N746.59/£1 and N641.26/€1.

Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin (BTC) moved closer to $27,000 as there were moves across various directions due to less pressure in the market environment. It appreciated by 2.1 per cent to sell at $26,994.11, while Ethereum (ETH) went up 0.4 per cent to quote at $1,732.42.

In addition, Solana (SOL) made a 3.6 per cent gain to finish at $16.07, Dogecoin (DOGE) made a 0.4 per cent appreciation to trade at $0.0623, and Litecoin (LTC) went up by 0.1 per cent to quote at $77.46.

On the flip side, Cardano (ADA) slid by 0.6 per cent to trade at $0.2603, Ripple (XRP) recorded a 0.4 per cent depreciation to settle at $0.4903, and Binance Coin (BNB) fell by 0.03 per cent to sell for $243.02.

However, the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.