Naira Gains at P2P, Loses at Black Market, Stable at I&E

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira tasted the three possibilities in the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, as forex pressure continues to pose a risk to its value in the currency market.

In the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) window, the value of the Naira was bolstered against the United States Dollar in the midweek session by N3 to close at N772/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N775/$1.

In the Investors and Exporters (I&E) wing, the domestic currency, however, maintained stability against the greenback at N464.67/$1, as the forex turnover weakened by 24.6 per cent or $45.71 million to $140.31 million from $186.02 million.

The Naira has maintained this rate for the past few days and it seems to be the level it will trade for the foreseeable future until the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) adheres to the directive of President Bola Tinubu on the harmonisation of the country’s multiple exchange rates.

But in the black market, the Nigerian Naira depreciated against the Dollar yesterday by N6 to close at N758/$1, in contrast to Tuesday’s closing value of N752/$1.

In the interbank segment of the market, the Naira closed flat against the British Pound Sterling at N493.90/£1 and appreciated against the Euro by 36 Kobo to sell at N493.90/€1 versus N494.26/€1.

Meanwhile, the digital currency market was bearish on Wednesday as many coins are trading at large premiums on Binance.US, a sign that investors are exiting the platform in light of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) actions against the company.

Bitcoin (BTC) slumped by 1.9 per cent to $26,407.33, Ethereum (ETH) declined by 2.3 per cent to $1,838.20, Solana (SOL) dropped 7.8 per cent to sell at $18.63, Binance Coin (BNB) shrank by 6.6 per cent to $260.58, and Cardano (ADA) slid by 6.5 per cent to $0.3238.

Further, Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 2.5 per cent to $0.0679, Litecoin (LTC) went down by 2.4 per cent to $88.44, and Ripple (XRP) recorded a 1.7 per cent loss to trade at $0.5214, while US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.