Naira Gains 0.04% at Investors’ Window, Bitcoin Loses 0.13%

By Adedapo Adesanya

Despite the sharp rise in the demand for forex at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the market on Thursday, the Naira was strengthened against the Dollar by 16 kobo or 0.04 per cent.

During the session, the demand for the greenback significantly increased by 464.0 per cent or $137.02 million as trades valued at $166.55 million were carried out by authorised forex traders compared with the $29.53 million recorded the previous day, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.

But despite this, at the close of transactions, the value of the local currency became slightly stronger against its American counterpart at N385.67/$1 in contrast to N385.83/$1 it was sold on Wednesday.

However, at the parallel market, according to data from abokiFX, the Naira traded flat against the Dollar on Thursday, selling at N462/$1 at the close of business, the same rate it sold previously.

But against the Pound, the Naira appreciated by N4 to close at N596/£1 compared with N600/£1 of the previous day, while on the Euro, the domestic currency recorded no movement, closing at the previous rate of N540/€1.

At the Bureaux De Change (BDC) segment of the foreign market, data from the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) showed that the Nigerian currency closed flat against the American currency at N386/$1.

At the interbank window of the forex market, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold the greenback to commercial banks at N379/$1 on Thursday, the same rate it was traded on Wednesday.

At the cryptocurrency market on Thursday, prices of the digital money depreciated across the currencies tracked.

According to Quidax, a platform used for trading cryptocurrencies in Naira in Nigeria, the value of Bitcoin (BTC) depreciated by 0.13 per cent to settle at N5.330 million.

On the part of Ethereum (ETH), another digital currency traded at the space, it went down by 2.26 per cent to N173,001, while the value of Litecoin (LTC) fell by 6.39 per cent to N21,792, with the price of XRP (Ripple) going down by 3.20 per cent to N113.