Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Over N2 was lost by the Naira to the United States Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (forex) market on Monday despite a decline in the value of FX trades.
Data obtained by Business Post from FMDQ Securities Exchange, the platform used for tracking the performance of the local currency in the official forex window, showed that the Nigerian currency depreciated against the greenback yesterday by N2.12 or 0.46 per cent to settle at N463.50/$1 compared with last Friday’s exchange rate of N461.38/$1.
This happened amid a 6.9 per cent or $12.97 million shortfall in the forex turnover recorded in the spot market to $175.40 million from the $188.37 million recorded in the preceding session.
However, in the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) arm, the domestic currency appreciated against its American pair by N16 to close at N750/$1 versus the previous trading day’s N766/$1.
Also, in the black market wing of the FX market, the Nigerian Naira gained N10 against the US Dollar yesterday to quote at N739/$1 compared with last Friday’s value of N749/$1.
But in the interbank window, the local currency lost 39 Kobo against the Pound Sterling during the session to settle at N570.74/£1, in contrast to the previous N570.35/£, and against the Euro, it depreciated by 6 Kobo to end the day at N501.17/€1 versus N501.11/€1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market closed bullish as investors prepare for a big week of US economic data, with nonfarm payrolls, to be released on Friday, expected to fall to 238,000 jobs.
Bitcoin (BTC) improved yesterday by 0.7 per cent to $27,932.11, Ethereum (ETH) rose 1.6 per cent to $1,810.65, and Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped 24.9 per cent to sell at $0.0975 after Mr Elon Musk changed Twitter’s traditional bird icon with an image of a Shiba Inu dog, an apparent nod to the coin, which has the animal emblazoned on it.
Solana (SOL) flew higher by 1.5 per cent to $20.40, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 1.4 per cent to $0.3905, Litecoin (LTC) increased its value by 0.8 per cent to $92.09, and Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 0.01 per cent to $309.77, while Ripple (XRP) lost 2.6 per cent to trade at $0.4976, with Binance USD (BUSD) and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) closing flat at $1.00 apiece.
