Naira Depreciates to N410.67/$1 at I&E as Cryptos Fall

By Adedapo Adesanya

A slight demand pressure weakened the value of the Naira against the Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Thursday, August 12.

The value of the Nigerian currency waned by 27 kobo or 0.06 per cent during the session to N410.67/$1 from the previous day’s N410.40/$1, data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange indicated.

Business Post reports that a 14.0 per cent or $18.57 million rise in turnover at the I&E segment of the FX market contributed to the decline suffered by the domestic currency yesterday.

At the close of business, transactions worth $150.99 million were carried out at the market window compared with the $132.42 million executed at the preceding session.

However, at the unregulated market, the local currency maintained stability against the Dollar on Thursday as it closed flat at N515/$1.

But against the Pound Sterling, the Naira appreciated by N1 to sell at N702/£1 compared to N703/£1 it traded at the midweek session and depreciated by N2 against the Euro to trade at N598/€1 in contrast to N596/€1 it closed on Wednesday.

At the interbank segment, the Nigerian legal tender closed flat against the American currency on Thursday at N410.12/$1.

Cryptos Dip as Investors Take Profit

Investors at the cryptocurrency market went for profit-taking yesterday and this led six of the seven digital coins tracked on Quidax to fall.

The digital assets had risen lately following the $1 trillion infrastructure bill in the United States, with a particular focus on how the bill could impact the world of cryptocurrency.

But after making gains in the past days, investors took profit, plunging the value of the Bitcoin (BTC) by 4.9 per cent to N22,726,300.35.

Ethereum (ETH) lost 5.6 per cent to trade at N1,558,002.02, Ripple (XRP) dropped 7.7 per cent to N490.00, Dash (DASH) slid by 3.1 per cent to sell for N93,035.01, Litecoin (LTC) depreciated by 3.8 per cent to sell at 88,499.00, while Tron (TRX) lost 3.9 per cent to trade at N42.26.

However, the US Dollar Tether (USDT) moved up by 0.6 per cent to sell for N517.00.