By Adedapo Adesanya
The value of the Naira to the US Dollar depreciated on Thursday in the parallel market, the Peer-2-Peer (P2P), and the Investors and Exporters (I&E) windows of the foreign exchange market.
The weakening of the Nigerian currency followed a squeeze in the supply of FX into the market yesterday, as forex traders rationed what they had to their customers.
This put pressure on the nation’s legal tender, causing its value to wane by N2 in the black market yesterday to N749/$1 compared with the previous day’s N747/$1.
In the same vein, the domestic currency lost N2 against its American counterpart in the P2P segment during the session to finish at N766/$1 compared with Wednesday’s rate of N764/$1.
Likewise, in the official market window, the Naira declined by 26 Kobo or 0.06 per cent to settle at N461.50/$1, in contrast to Wednesday’s N461.24/$1.
In the interbank segment, the Naira fell against the Pound Sterling on Thursday by 82 Kobo to sell at N568.50/£1 versus its previous rate of N567.68/£1, and against the Euro, it lost N1 to finish at N500.21/€1 compared with the midweek session’s N499.21/€1.
In the cryptocurrency market, things turned awry yesterday despite some consolidation ahead of the upcoming US GDP report.
The third and final estimate for Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) showed the US economy expanded by 2.6 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2022, slightly below expectations of 2.7 per cent.
The GDP figure was revised downward from prior estimates of 2.9 per cent and 2.7 per cent because consumer spending and exports were lower than initially calculated.
The crypto market reacted to this in a negative way and caused the value of Bitcoin (BTC) to drop 1.4 per cent to $28,147.52, as Ethereum (ETH) took advantage of it to go up by 0.5 per cent to $1,802.87.
Solana (SOL) shed 2.5 per cent to sell at $20.56, Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 0.5 per cent to $0.0748, while Litecoin (LTC) went down by 0.2 per cent to $89.98.
Conversely, Ripple (XRP) recorded a 3.0 per cent gain to trade at $0.5445, Binance Coin (BNB) appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $316.40, and Cardano (ADA) rose by 0.8 per cent to $0.3796, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) traded flat at $1.00 each.
