Naira Trades N740/$1 at Black Market, N461.50/$1 at I&E

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira opened the week stronger against the US Dollar in the black market, the Peer-2-Peer (P2P), and the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segments of the foreign exchange (forex) market on Monday, March 20.

In the parallel market window, the Nigerian Naira gained N7 against the greenback to quote at N740/$1 compared with last Friday’s exchange rate of N747/$1.

In the P2P segment, the value of the local currency appreciated by N6 against the American currency to sell for N748/$1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N754/$1.

Similarly, the domestic currency improved against the US Dollar in the official market window by 33 Kobo or 0.07 per cent to trade at N461.50/$1 compared with N461.83/$1.

The local currency was strengthened in the spot market yesterday amid an FX demand pressure, which pushed the turnover for the day higher by 43.1 per cent or $37.85 million to $125.66 million from $87.81 million.

However, in the interbank segment of the market, the Naira lost N2.70 against the Pound Sterling to quote at N559.15/£1, in contrast to the previous session’s N556.45/£1 and against the Euro, it depreciated by N2.12 to close at N490.11/€1 versus last Friday’s N487.99/€1.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market turned red on Monday as the Federal Reserve and other major central banks made coordinated moves to enhance market liquidity.

Litecoin (LTC) went southwards by 3.9 per cent to trade at $78.91, Dogecoin (DOGE) fell by 2.8 per cent to $0.0718, Ethereum (ETH) declined by 1.0 per cent to $1,743.47, Cardano (ADA) dipped by 0.7 per cent to $0.3382, and Binance Coin (BNB) lost 0.3 per cent to sell for $334.40.

However, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 1.2 per cent to quote $27,849.66 as markets responded to the deepening global banking crisis, amid the decision of UBS to buy Credit Suisse, a move engineered by Swiss authorities.

Also, Ripple (XRP) rose by 0.07 per cent to trade at $0.3836, Solana (SOL) grew by 0.06 per cent to sell at $22.43, as the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) traded flat at $1.00 each.