Naira Trades N485/$1 at Parallel Market as CBN Interventions Lessens

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira ended the midweek session stronger against the US Dollar at the parallel market as it gained N5 to close at N485/$1 compared to the previous rate of N490/$1.

At the same segment, the domestic currency also appreciated by N5 against the Pound to wrap the day at N635/£1 as against N645/£1 of Tuesday but lost ground against the Euro as the session by N5 to close at N580/€1 versus N575/€1 it was traded a day earlier.

Recall that the Naira had dropped to a low of N500/$1 as regulated channels could not clear their backlog of demands. But through the interventions of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in recent days to these sources, the pressure has been eased.

At one of such segments, the Investors & Exporters (I&E) window, data gathered from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the exchange rate of the Naira/Dollar further depreciated by 0.25 per cent or N1 to N395/$1 from the previous rate of N394/$1.

At the same market segment, it was observed that the demand for forex decreased as market participants made transactions worth $57.97 million compared with the $168.57 million transacted at the preceding session, indicating a drop by 65.6 per cent or $110.60 million.

Meanwhile, at the interbank window of the market, the official exchange rate of the Naira/Dollar remained at N379/$1, while at the Bureaux De Change (BDC) segment, according to data from the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), the Naira traded flat against the Dollar at N392/$1.

It was a mixed outcome at the cryptocurrency market as the value of the digital monies tracked by Business Post on Quidax went into different directions.

The Bitcoin (BTC) lost 0.3 per cent on Wednesday to trade at N9,000,999.99, the Dash (DASH) lost 1.3 per cent to sell at N51,000.02, the US Dollar Tether (USDT) went down by 1.1 per cent to sell for 484.58, while the Ripple (RPX) depreciated by 2.8 per cent to trade at N300.01.

However, the Ethereum (ETH) gained 1.6 per cent yesterday to trade at N292,500, the Litecoin moved up by 0.8 per cent to sell for N42,353.02, while Tron (TRX) went up by 0.7 per cent to trade at N15.31.