By Adedapo Adesanya
An increase in the demand for the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange (Forex) market humbled the Nigerian Naira on Wednesday.
Data obtained by Business Post showed that the Naira depreciated against the greenback by N1.50 or 0.37 per cent to trade at N411.50/$1 in contrast to N410/$1 it traded at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-regulated window on Tuesday.
The turnover at the investors’ window for the session increased by $23.68 million or 14.0 per cent to $192.75 million from $169.07 million of the preceding session.
A look at the interbank segment of the market indicated that the local currency recorded a slight appreciation of one kobo against the US Dollar to settle at N410.18/$1 compared with the previous N410.19/$1.
But at the unregulated parallel market, the local currency traded flat against the American currency at the midweek session at N500/$1.
At the same black market, the Naira gained N3 against the Pound Sterling to close at N710/£1 versus N713/£1 of the preceding day and appreciated by N3 against the Euro to quote at N592/€1 versus Tuesday’s N595/€1.
Meanwhile, at the cryptocurrency market, there was a slight recovery as four of the seven tokens tracked on Quidax closed bullish.
The digital assets have faced authoritative actions this year on its trading and usage, which have dampened the mood towards its acceptance with the latest coming from China as regulatory authorities clamp down on miners.
During the market yesterday, the value of the Bitcoin (BTC) improved by 2.1 per cent to N16,562,979.01, Ripple (XRP) gained 21.1 per cent to trade at N340.68, Litecoin (LTC) rose by 7.9 per cent to sell at N68,850.00, while Tron (TRX) appreciated by 8.6 per cent to N27.13.
However, Ethereum (ETH) lost 5.2 per cent to trade at N936,707.00, the US Dollar Tether (USDT) went down by 1.6 per cent to sell for N508.90, while Dash (DASH) closed flat at N70,000.00.
Modupe Gbadeyanka