By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira slid by 0.96 per cent or N3.75 against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market on Tuesday to close at N394/$1 as against N390.25/$1 it sold previously.
The loss recorded at the specialised market came as the demand for greenback by investors rose by 379.6 per cent or $133.42 million during the session to $168.57 million from the previous day’s $35.57 million.
This rise in the turnover at the market may have been buoyed by the assurance given to investors by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over the weekend that access to FX by genuine customers would be unfettered.
From what Business Post gathered at the black market yesterday, the pressure on the local currency was eased and this prompted the N10 gained by the Naira against the Dollar to settle at N490/$1 versus N500/$1 it exchanged at the preceding session.
Equally, the Naira appreciated by N10 against the British Pound Sterling at the parallel market on Tuesday to wrap the day at N640/£1 in contrast to N650/£1 it was sold on Monday. Also, at the same window, the Nigerian currency appreciated by N10 against the Euro to quote at N575/€1 compared to N585/€1 it traded at the previous session.
At the Bureaux De Change (BDC) window, the local currency traded flat against the greenback yesterday at N392/$1 and also closed flat against the American currency on Tuesday at the interbank segment at N379/$1.
For traders at the cryptocurrency market, it was a bad day as the Bitcoin (BTC) depreciated by 3.1 per cent to sell for N9,166,076.19, while the Ethereum (ETH) went down by 3.3 per cent to trade at N290,000, with the Ripple (RPX) going down by 4.9 per cent to settle at N307.00 and the Dash (DASH) losing 5.1 per cent to trade at N51,896.09.
In addition, the Tron (TRX) declined by 5.4 per cent to close at N15.23, the US Dollar Tether (USDT) depreciated by 2.2 per cent to finish at N485.01, while the Litecoin (LTC) gained 2.1 per cent to settle at N42,879.83.
Dipo Olowookere