By Ahmed Rahma, Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira dropped against the US Dollar at both the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and the parallel windows of the foreign exchange market on Monday, March 8.
At the specialised market, the headwinds facing the Naira in recent time continued yesterday as it traded at a new low of N411.88/$1 after losing 88 kobo or 0.21 per cent against the greenback. At the previous session, it was traded at N411/$1.
Data obtained by Business Post showed that the local currency was battered at the session despite a decline in the demand for FX by customers.
Transactions worth $32.58 million were made at the I&E window yesterday versus $83.93 million recorded last Friday, signifying a decline by 61.2 per cent or $51.35 million.
At the black market, where the local currency had recorded stability against the US Dollar recently, things changed as the Naira lost N2 to trade at N482/$1 as against the previous value of N480/$1.
The Nigerian Naira also lost N1 against the Euro at the unregulated segment of the forex market to close at N583/€1 compared to N582/€1 it traded last Friday and closed flat against the Pound Sterling at N675/£1.
At the interbank window, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) maintained its auction rate of the Naira to the Dollar to commercial banks at N379/$1, while at the Bureaux De Change (BDC) window, the exchange rate of the Naira to the Dollar remained unchanged at N395/$1.
At the cryptocurrency market, four out of the seven tokens tracked by Business Post on Quidax closed positive, with the Bitcoin (BTC) gaining 5.1 per cent to trade at N32,998,709.99.
The Ethereum (ETH) recorded a 12.4 per cent surge to sell at N1,150,000, the Dash (DASH) grew by 1.5 per cent to sell at N134,000, while the Tron (TRX) appreciated by 3.0 per cent to sell at N32.49.
However, the US Dollar Tether (USDT) depreciated by 3.1 per cent to sell for N625.00, Litecoin (LTC) lost 1.5 per cent to trade at N114,801.29, while Ripple (XRP) recorded a 0.4 per cent slump to trade at N292.63.
Modupe Gbadeyanka