Naira Gains at Official Market, Crashes at Unauthorised FX Segments

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated against the American Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market by 25 Kobo or 0.06 per cent to settle at N445.50/$1 on Friday compared with the previous day’s N445.75/$1.

Data showed that the strengthening of the domestic currency in the final trading session of the week was influenced by a lower demand for forex in the official market as the turnover stood at $94.07 million compared with the $166.88 million recorded a day earlier, indicating a decline of $72.81 million or 43.6 per cent.

However, in the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) window, the Naira lost N8 against the greenback to close at N900/$1 compared with the N882/$1 it was traded in the previous trading session.

Also, in the parallel market, the Nigerian currency depreciated against the United States Dollar on Friday by N12 to sell for N892/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s rate of N880/$1.

This sharp fall has been triggered by the need for some Nigerians and moneybags to swap their old Naira notes for the American currency ahead of the 2023 general polls.

There was a mixed movement for the Naira in the interbank FX segment yesterday as the local currency appreciated against the British Pound Sterling by N1.02 to N493.27/£1 from N494.32/£1, but lost N1.96 against the Euro to close at N431.28/€1 versus Thursday’s value of N429.32/€1.

The cryptocurrency market was largely bullish yesterday as eight of the 10 benchmarked currencies tracked by Business Post were up amid renewed interest in digital assets.

Solana (SOL) jumped 8.6 per cent to $35.23, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 7.6 per cent to $0.4988, Litecoin (LTC) rose by 7.2 per cent to $68.90, Dogecoin (DOGE) surged by 5.7 per cent to $0.1299, and Ethereum (ETH) grew by 4.7 per cent to sell at $1,652.56.

Furthermore, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 4.4 per cent to close at $0.4289, Bitcoin (BTC) made a 3.8 per cent gain to quote at $21,384.93, and Binance Coin (BNB) pointed up by 3.3 per cent to sell at $357.85.

The Binance USD (BUSD) and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) closed flat at $1.00 each.