Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira closed the midweek session on a positive note by appreciating by 0.16 per cent or 67 kobo against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market.
At the trading session, it closed at N410/$1 compared with N410.67/$1 it was transacted on Tuesday and this was buoyed by the ability of FX traders to meet the demands of their customers.
At the market on Wednesday, the Naira witnessed a decline in pressure as there was only $40.13 million worth of transactions in contrast to the $99.49 million recorded at the preceding session, which indicated a fall in turnover by 59.7 per cent or $59.36 million.
However, the local currency maintained its stability against the United States currency at the interbank segment of the market as it closed at N379/$1, the same rate it has traded for many months.
A similar scenario occurred at the unregulated window of the forex market, where the domestic currency remained unchanged against the greenback at N486/$1 at the close of transactions yesterday.
But the Naira appreciated by N2 against the British Pound Sterling at the parallel market on Wednesday to trade at N670/£1 compared with N672/£1 it was sold on Tuesday and then lost N2 against the Euro at the same segment to quote at N577/€1 versus N575/€1 it closed a day earlier.
Cryptocurrencies Bleed
It was not a good day for cryptocurrency holders on Wednesday as the digital asset bled, according to data obtained by Business Post from Quidax, a platform for tracking and trading the coins in Nigeria.
The decline witnessed at the market yesterday came a day after there was a renewed interest in coins but fears of deregulation swayed the volatile asset, which led to selloffs.
The Bitcoin (BTC) lost 7.5 per cent to trade at N26,600,001.31; Ethereum (ETH) went down by 1.7 per cent to sell at N1,139,999.99; Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 7.2 per cent to trade at N650; while the Litecoin (LTC) fell by 2.8 per cent to sell at N128,125.60.
Further, the Dash (DASH) declined by 4.2 per cent to quote at N154,154.28; Tron (TRX) depreciated by 4.4 per cent to sell for N66.58; while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) went southwards by 1.2 per cent to sell at N498.12.
