By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar at the parallel market segment of the foreign exchange market on Wednesday, June 16.
At the window, which caters for demands not met by the government-regulated channels, the local currency gained N3 in value on the US currency as it sold for N502/$1 against N505/$1 it quoted on Tuesday.
Following the same pattern, the Nigerian currency gained N3 against the Pound Sterling as it wrapped the session at N713/£ compared to the previously traded rate of N716/£1.
The local currency also appreciated at the segment on the Euro, this time by N2, to sell at N606/€1 in contrast to N608/€1 it traded previously.
But at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, the Naira depreciated by 0.06 per cent or 25 kobo against its American counterpart to wrap up the day at N412/$1 as against N411.75/$1 of the day before.
The decline in the value of the domestic currency happened despite the ease in the demand pressure as transactions worth $131.86 million were recorded in contrast to $172.24 million reported at the preceding trading session, signifying that the turnover for the day decreased by $40.38 million or 23.4 per cent.
At the interbank segment of the market, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) still auctioned the US Dollar to commercial banks at N410.12/$1 as it did the day earlier.
As for the cryptocurrency market, the bears maintained their grip on the digital currencies as only two of the five tokens monitored by Business Post on the trading platform, Quidax, closed bullish.
Bitcoin (BTC) saw its value drop by 0.9 per cent to trade at N19,938,654.34, Ethereum made a 0.9 per cent depreciation to sell at N1,248,900.00, Ripple (XRP) went down by 0.6 per cent to trade at N435.40, Tron (TRX) declined by 2.9 per cent to sell at N34.97, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) shrank by 0.3 per cent to N509.99.
On the flip side, Litecoin (LTC) moved up by 3.4 per cent to trade at N88,499.00, while Dash (DASH) appreciated by 0.9 per cent to sell at N89,774.00.
Dipo Olowookere