By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated by 25 kobo or 0.06 per cent at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange market on Tuesday, October 20 as the domestic currency ended the day at N385.75/$1 in contrast to N386/$1 it was sold previously.
This happened amid a decrease in the demand for forex at the segment.
According to the FMDQ Securities Exchange, transactions valued at $32.67 million were carried out at the investors’ window in contrast to $120.93 million exchanged at the previous session, indicating a slide by 72.9 per cent or $88.26 million.
This showed that investors are beginning to cautiously observe the market as peaceful protests around the country turned violent this week after hoodlums caused chaos, leading to the declaration of curfew by some state governments.
But at the parallel market, the Naira depreciated by N1 against the Dollar to sell at N463/$1 compared with N462/$1 it was traded the previous session and against the two other major foreign currencies at the black market, the domestic currency closed flat.
Against the Pound Sterling, the value of the Naira remained flat at N592/£1 and against the Euro, the value of the Nigerian currency remained at N540/€1.
At the Bureaux De Change (BDC) segment of the 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 Tuesday, the same rate it was auctioned to them on Monday.
On the cryptocurrency scene, the rates of the digital money varied across the currencies tracked by Business Post on Quidax, a platform used for trading cryptocurrencies in Naira in Nigeria.
Bitcoin (BTC) value appreciated by 3.11 per cent to sell at N5.6 million while Ethereum (ETH) marked a 1.59 per cent depreciation to close at N173,268.50.
Equally, Ripple (RPX) slid by 1.48 per cent to N114.28 while the value of Litecoin (LTC) went up by 1.62 per cent to settle at N22,501.
