Naira Falls to N775/$1 at Official Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira closed weaker against the greenback in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market on Friday, July 28, as liquidity issues continued to affect supply.

During the last trading day of the week, it lost 0.93 per cent or N7.16 against the United States currency to quote at N775.76/$1 versus the N768.60/$1 it was traded on Thursday.

The local currency performed badly in the official market yesterday as a result of the inability of FX traders to meet the demand of their customers, affecting the turnover posted at the close of business.

Forex transactions decreased by 38.9 per cent or $34.48 million to $54.18 million from the $88.66 million transacted in the preceding trading session.

However, in the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) segment, the Naira appreciated against the Dollar on Friday by N1 to sell at N871/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s exchange rate of N872/$1.

Similarly, the domestic currency gained N2 against the American currency to sell at N867/$1 compared with the previous day’s N869/$1.

The Nigerian Naira had a poor outcome against the Pound Sterling and the Euro at the spot market on Friday, losing N34.40 against the British currency to settle at N997.16/£1 versus N962.76/£1 and shed N28.54 against the Euro to trade at N852.95/€1 compared with N824.41/€1.

In the cryptocurrency market, momentum in the market returned as investors digested all the rate hikes information.

However, Bitcoin (BTC) remained below the $30,000 mark despite a 0.5 per cent rise to close at $29,365.93, as Ethereum (ETH) grew by 0.7 per cent to sell at $1,874.32.

Solana (SOL) appreciated by 1.4 per cent to $25.17, Dogecoin (DOGE) recorded a 1.3 per cent increase to sell at $0.0780, Cardano (ADA) rose by 1.1 per cent to trade at $0.3117, and  Binance Coin (BNB) jumped 0.6 per cent to sell for $241.97.

On the other hand, Litecoin (LTC) went down by 0.3 per cent to $91.09, Ripple (XRP) dropped 0.02 per cent to $0.7122, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) traded flat at $1.00 each.