Naira Sells for N411.31/$1 at I&E as Cryptos Recover

By Adedapo Adesanya

Despite a drop in the demand for FX at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market on Thursday, the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar.

Data obtained by Business Post from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the local currency lost 56 kobo or 0.14 per cent against the greenback yesterday at the investors’ segment of the market to trade at N411.31/$1 in contrast to N410.75/$1 it traded on Wednesday.

The turnover for the day stood at $120.08 million, $11.08 million or 8.4 per cent lower than the previous day’s $131.16 million, according to FMDQ.

It was observed that FX dealers struggled with the demand pressure from customers, causing the domestic currency to depreciate at the trading session.

A look at the unregulated category of the FX market on Thursday showed that the local currency maintained its stability against the US Dollar as it closed flat at N484/$1.

However, the Nigerian currency depreciated against the Pound Sterling by N2 at the black market to sell for N680/£1 versus N678/£1 it was traded at the preceding session and lost N3 on the Euro trade at N585/€1 versus the previous rate of N582/€1.

Cryptos Recover After Dip

At the cryptocurrency market, there was a bit of fresh air as the key digital coins like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) closed bullish.

Cryptos had earlier dipped after China prohibited financial institutions in the country from having anything to do with crypto-related services, sending prices down to their worst since March 2020.

But yesterday, the Bitcoin recorded a 16.8 per cent appreciation to sell at N20,742,277.91, Ethereum gained 5.7 per cent to trade at N1,408,109.79, Ripple appreciated by 5.8 per cent to N614.89, while Dash (DASH) rose by 0.2 per cent to sell for N110,173.45.

However, a few of the digital tokens remained in the bearish region as the Litecoin (LTC) dropped 5.8 per cent to sell at 114,798.99, Tron (TRX) went down by 0.3 per cent to trade at N44.68, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) closed lower by 0.6 per cent to N503.50.