Naira Crumbles to N771.59/$1 at I&E Amid Forex Liquidity Worries

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira crumbled against the Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market on Wednesday, September 6, as FX liquidity issues continued to affect space, putting pressure on the nation’s legal tender.

Data obtained by Business Post indicated that the domestic currency lost 3.6 per cent or N26.62 against the greenback in the midweek session to close at N771.59/$1 versus Tuesday’s value of N744.97/$1.

The value of forex transactions, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange, increased by 2.7 per cent or $1.7 million to $65.30 million from the $63.60 million reported a day earlier.

Equally, in the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segment of the forex market, the Nigerian currency depreciated against the US Dollar during the trading session by N2 to quote at N926/$1, in contrast to the preceding day’s N924/$1.

Similarly, the local currency shed N5 against its American counterpart in the black market yesterday to trade at N925/$1 compared with the previous day’s N920/$1.

Also, the Naira weakened in the official market against the Pound Sterling on Wednesday by N38.53 to close at N986.79/£1 versus N948.26/£1 and against the Euro, it lost N32.89 to finish at N842.48/€1 versus N809.59/€1.

In the cryptocurrency market, momentum weakened after it jumped on the news that global payment company, Visa, will expand its stablecoin capabilities to the Ethereum alternative.

Other cryptocurrencies were little changed, with Bitcoin (BTC) hovering below the flat line at $25,720.61 and Ethereum (ETH) up slightly by 0.12 per cent at $1,631.80.

Solana (SOL) depreciated by 3.2 per cent to sell at $19.62, Dogecoin (DOGE) recorded a 0.5 per cent loss to $0.0635, Ripple (XRP) fell by 0.4 per cent to $0.5023, and Litecoin (LTC) crashed by 0.4 per cent to trade at $62.75.

On the flip side, Cardano (ADA) rose by 0.3 per cent to finish at $0.2578, Binance Coin (BNB) jumped by 0.2 per cent to $214.78, Binance USD (BUSD) appreciated by 0.03 per cent to $0.9999 and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) grew by 0.01 per cent to $0.9995.