Naira Weakens at Unregulated Forex Market, Gains at I&E

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira recorded a mixed performance at the various segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday, January 29, 2021.

During the session, the local currency appreciated against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window but depreciated at the parallel market and closed flat at the interbank and the Bureaux De Change (BDC) segments.

Specifically, at the I&E window, the domestic currency gained 20 kobo or 0.05 per cent to trade at N394.13/$1 in contrast to N394.33/$1 it was sold on Thursday.

This happened as $24.09 million worth of transactions were recorded at the final session of the week, 35.9 per cent or $13.48 million lower than the previous day’s $37.58 million.

But at the unregulated FX market, the Nigerian currency gave up N2 against the greenback to sell at N480/$1 compared with the preceding session’s N478/$1.

The local currency equally lost N2 against the Pound Sterling to close at N652/£1 in contrast to N650/£1 it was traded the day before but closed flat against the Euro to close at N580/€1.

At the interbank and BDC windows, the Naira/Dollar exchange rate remained unchanged on Friday at N379/$1 and N395/$1 respectively.

Meanwhile, at the cryptocurrency market, the Bitcoin (BTC) gained by 3.8 per cent to trade at N16,199,908. The Ethereum appreciated by 3.8 per cent to sell at N656,000, the United States Dollar Tether (USDT) rose by 0.2 per cent to trade at N485, while the Tron (TRX) gained 2.2 per cent to sell at N15.25.

However, the Litecoin (LTC) dropped 4.5 per cent to trade at 62,680.52, the Dash (DASH) lost 1.3 per cent to sell at N48,731.23, while the Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 1.1 per cent to trade at N141.