Naira Worsens, Sells for N505/$1 at Black Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The situation of the Naira worsened at the black market on Tuesday, June 15 as it depreciated against the Dollar by N3 to sell for N505/$1 in contrast to N502/$1.

At the same unregulated segment of the foreign exchange market yesterday, the local currency also depreciated against the British Pound Sterling by N1 to close at N716/£1 compared to N715/£1 of the preceding trading session.

In the same vein, the domestic currency went down by N1 against the Euro as it traded at N608/€1 in contrast to N607/€1 of the previous day.

The situation was not different at the regulated Investors and Exchange (I&E) window as the Naira depreciated against the greenback on Tuesday by 95 kobo or 0.23 per cent, selling at N411.75/$1 in contrast to N410.80/$1 it traded at the preceding session.

It was observed that the local currency suffered the loss yesterday as a result of an FX demand pressure as the value of transactions at the market segment increased by 85.6 per cent or $79.46 million to $172.24 million from the previous session’s $92.78 million, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.

However, there was a respite for the domestic currency at the interbank segment, which is the official exchange rate window for the country. The Nigerian currency marginally appreciated by one kobo at the category to quote at N410.12/$1 against N410.13/$1 of the previous session.

Meanwhile, at the digital currency market, the bears were in control as five of the seven tokens tracked by Business Post on Quidax closed in the red.

Bitcoin (BTC) lost 0.9 per cent to close at N20,184,844.70, Ethereum (ETH) also went down by 0.9 per cent to close at N1,263,000.01, while Ripple (XRP) declined by 2.9 per cent to trade at N438.02.

In addition, Litecoin (LTC) went down by 4.1 per cent to trade at N85,602.00, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) depreciated by 0.8 per cent to sell for N510.57.

On the gainers’ angle, Dash (DASH) appreciated by 4.1 per cent to sell at N89,999.00, while Tron (TRX) went up by 0.2 per cent to sell at N36.20.