By Adedapo Adesanya
The week started for the Naira on a positive note, appreciating marginally against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange market on Monday.
At the close of transactions yesterday, the local currency gained 13 kobo or 0.03 per cent against the greenback to trade at N394/$1 compared to N394.13/$1 it traded last Friday.
The strengthening of the domestic currency occurred despite the increase in the demand for forex at the market window as trades worth $28.85 million were executed in contrast to the $24.09 million recorded at the preceding session, indicating a rise by $4.76 million or 19.8 per cent.
But at the parallel market, the Naira maintained stability against the American currency on Monday, closing at N480/$1. This was also replicated against the Euro, which remained unchanged at N580/€1. However, the Naira depreciated against the Pound Sterling by N3 to settle at N655/£1 in contrast to N652/€1 of the previous trading day.
At the Bureaux De Change (BDC) segment of the market, data from the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) showed that the Nigerian currency closed flat against the American currency at N395/$1.
It was equally the same trend for the Naira at the interbank segment of the FX market, as it traded flat against the US Dollar yesterday at N379/$1.
Meanwhile, at the cryptocurrency market, the Ripple (XRP) witnessed a ripple, which weakened its value by 35.4 per cent to sell at N183.99.
The loss recorded by the token was the talk of the market yesterday. This was because the digital coin crashed hard from two-month highs reached, with a planned community buying effort failing to yield desired results.
The efforts from some members of a coordinated Telegram group called “Buy & Hold XRP” backfired.
Another loser on Monday was the Tron (TRX), which depreciated by 0.2 per cent to sell at N15.96.
However, the Dash (DASH), which had recently plunged, recorded the highest gain of the day as it rose by 4.6 per cent gain to sell at N51,150.
The Ethereum (ETH) gained 4.2 per cent to sell at N663,790, the Bitcoin rose by 0.1 per cent to trade at N16,179,373.31, Litecoin (LTC) appreciated by 3.6 per cent to settle at N63,915.70, while the United States Dollar Tether (USDT) went up by 0.4 per cent to sell for N483.89.
