Naira Depreciates to N774.78/$1 at Official Market, N897/$1 at P2P

By Adedapo Adesanya

It was a weak start for the Nigerian Naira at the official market, which is the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market, as it depreciated against the US Dollar on Monday, August 8.

The Naira performed badly during the session as a result of the persistent forex liquidity crisis in the country. This issue is also affecting many businesses operating in Nigeria and has led to the exit of a few.

At the spot market yesterday, the local currency lost 4.3 per cent or N31.71 against the greenback to trade at N774.78/$1 compared with last Friday’s value of N743.07/$1.

It was observed that the market witnessed a very low turnout on Monday, as the value of FX transactions significantly dropped by 62.0 per cent or $75.10 million to $45.98 million from the preceding session’s $121.08 million.

Also, in the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) window, the Naira shed N15 against the US Dollar to sell at N897/$1 compared with the previous trading day’s N882/$1.

But in the black market, the domestic currency traded flat against its American currency yesterday at N895/$1.

Equally, the Nigerian currency was flat against the Pound Sterling and the Euro at the official market on Monday at N958.99/£1 and N827.70/€1, respectively.

A look at the digital currency market showed that the bears took charge of the landscape, as most of the tokens tracked by Business Post closed in red amid cautious trading.

Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 1.5 per cent to sell at $0.0739, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by $0.2916, Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 0.4 per cent to $242.63, Litecoin (LTC) declined by 0.3 per cent to $82.68, Solana (SOL) also recorded a 0.3 per cent loss to trade at $27.57, Ripple (XRP) lost 0.2 per cent to finish at $0.6239, and Ethereum (ETH) also shed 0.2 per cent to close at $1,833.91.

However, Bitcoin (BTC) chalked up 0.5 per cent to finish at $29,233.70, while Binance USD (BUSD) and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.