By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira gained a whopping N15.95 or 3.89 per cent against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market on Monday, January 4, coming back from the rush around the New Year holidays that saw the Naira dip by more than 4 per cent.
At the first trading session of the year, the local currency strengthened to N394.30/$1 from N410.25/$1 it was exchanged at the last session on Thursday, December 31, 2020.
The appreciation came from the drop in the demand for the greenback yesterday as the daily market turnover stood at $22.75 million, 90.3 per cent or $213 million lower than the $235.75 million recorded at the previous session.
But at the parallel market, the Naira maintained stability against the US Dollar to trade at N470/$1. The domestic currency also remained stable against the Pound Sterling yesterday at N628/£1 but gained N1 on the Euro to settle at N572/$1 compared with the previous rate of N573/$1.
During the market on Monday, the value of the Nigerian currency against the greenback remained unchanged at N395/$1 at the Bureaux De Change (BDC) segment of the market, according to data from the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON).
Also, the value of the Naira against the American currency remained unchanged at the interbank window on Monday at N379/$1.
At the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin’s recent rally was halted yesterday as it depreciated by 2.5 per cent to trade at N15,300,299.99.
Also, the Dash (DASH) went down by 1.7 per cent to sell at N42,549.04, Litecoin (LTC) dipped by 2.9 per cent to settle at N73,811.74, while Tron (TRX) lost 0.2 per cent to trade at N13.50.
But the Ethereum (ETH) appreciated on Monday by 7.1 per cent to trade at N487,122.69, Ripple (XRP) gained 1.6 per cent to sell at N110.75, while the United States Dollar Tether (USDT) gained 0.7 per cent to sell for N474.11.
Modupe Gbadeyanka