Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya, Ahmed Rahma
The Naira depreciated by 0.08 per cent or 33 kobo against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market on Monday, January 25
During the trading session, the first in the new week, the Naira was exchanged against the greenback at N394.50/$1 in contrast to the previous rate of N394.17/$1.
Business Post observed that the local currency recorded a poor outcome against its American pair despite a decrease in the demand for forex at the market segment.
Yesterday, transactions worth $33.99 million were recorded at the special exchange category for investors in need of forex as against the $44.51 million recorded last Friday. This indicated that there was a $10.52 million or 23.6 per cent decline in the turnover for the day.
One explanation that can be given for this is that forex dealers were short of FX supply to meet the demand of their customers, which pressured the domestic currency. They will have to await FX sales to them from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) before the week runs out to meet the demands.
However, at the parallel market, the local currency traded flat against the US Dollar on Monday at N477/$1 but gained N1 against the Pound Sterling to sell at N647/£1 versus the previous rate of N648/£1 and against the Euro, the domestic currency closed flat at N580/€1.
At the Bureaux De Change (BDC) window of the market, the value of the Naira against the greenback remained fixed at N395/$1 a the close of business yesterday, according to data gathered from the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON).
Likewise, the exchange rate of the Naira to the Dollar remained unchanged on Monday at the interbank segment of the FX market at N379/$1.
Meanwhile, the bearish outcome at the cryptocurrency market continued yesterday as all the major tokens tracked closed in the negative region.
The popular Bitcoin depreciated by 2.8 per cent to trade at N15,467,999.72, the Ethereum lost 3.3 per cent to sell at N655,882.97, while the Litecoin (LTC) declined by 4.6 per cent to trade at N66,202.
Also, Dash (DASH) lost 3.2 per cent to quote at N50,361.10, Ripple (XRP) fell by 2.0 per cent to settle at N129.80, Tron (TRX) recorded a 0.6 per cent loss to sell for N14.36, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) slid by 0.8 per cent to sell at N480.30.
