By Ahmed Rahma, Adedapo Adesanya
After more than a week of trading in a stable position at the unregulated segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market, the Naira appreciated against the US Dollar on Wednesday by N2 to finish at N478/$1 in contrast to the previous rate of N480/$1.
At the same black market, the local currency was fortified against the Pound Sterling by N3 to close at N652/£1 in contrast to N655/£1 it was sold on Tuesday and remained stable against the Euro at N575/€1.
Business Post reports that unlike the previous trading session, the Naira put up a fight against the greenback at Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the market yesterday and came out victorious by N1 or 0.25 per cent to settle at N400/$1 in contrast to the N401/$1 it traded a day earlier.
This outcome was bolstered by the availability of FX in the system on the back of rising crude oil prices, which are trading more than $20 above the benchmark for the 2021 fiscal year.
At the midweek session, transactions worth $50.74 million were recorded as against the $49.07 million achieved at the preceding session, indicating $1.67 million or 3.04 per cent increase. Despite this spike in the FX demands, forex traders had enough supply to meet the requests of their customers.
At the interbank, the value of the domestic currency against its American counterpart remained unchanged at N379/$1, while at the Bureaux De Change (BDC) window, the Naira maintained stability against the Dollar at N395/$1 at the close of business on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market could not maintain its bullish run yesterday as five of the seven tokens tracked by Business Post recorded negative outcomes.
The Bitcoin (BTC) lost 7.9 per cent to trade at N20,347,938.49, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 3.1 per cent to sell at N798,150, Litecoin (LTC) declined by 4.8 per cent to trade at N79,001, Ripple (XRP) fell by 2.3 per cent to trade at N220.00, while Tron (TRX) lost 5.2 per cent to sell at N20.97.
But the Dash (DASH) made a 1.6 per cent appreciation to sell at N61,999, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) appreciated by 0.9 per cent to quote at N463.00.
