By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Naira appreciated against the United States Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) windows of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, February 8.
Amid worrying issues in the country, including Nigeria’s cash crunch, the Naira was able to find succour at the currency market.
In the I&E market, which caters to the FX needs of business owners, the domestic currency gained 33 Kobo or 0.07 per cent to close at N461.17/$1 compared with the exchange rate of N461.50/$1 on Tuesday.
Low transactions in the spot market helped the local currency gain strength yesterday as the turnover stood at $55.52 million, 25.6 per cent or $19.06 million lower than the $74.58 million carried out in the preceding session.
Equally, in the P2P arm of the FX market, the domestic currency appreciated against its American pair by N1 yesterday to settle at N760/$1, in contrast to the N761/$1 it was traded a day earlier.
Also, in the black market, the Nigerian currency closed stronger than the US Dollar by N1 to trade at N749/$1 compared with Tuesday’s exchange rate of N750/$1.
However, in the interbank window, the domestic currency weakened against the Pound Sterling by N2.47 to close at N557.87/£1 versus N555.40/£1, and against the Euro, it gained 96 Kobo to end the day at N495.36/€1 versus Tuesday’s N496.32/€1.
Meanwhile, in the crypto market, the mood was weak as investors expect that US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is set to give a speech on Thursday in which he may deliver a shock wake-up call to crypto and stock markets.
This is on the heels of last week’s red-hot US jobs report, which sparked fears of a return of aggressive Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.
Bitcoin (BTC) slid below $23,000 to around $22,938.57 after it went down by 1.5 per cent, while Ethereum (ETH) made a 1.4 per cent depreciation to trade at $1,650.63.
Solana (SOL) slumped by 2.9 per cent to quote at $23.19, Dogecoin lost 2.6 per cent to sell at $0.0902, Binance Coin (BNB) crashed by 1.7 per cent to $327.94, Ripple (XRP) slid by 1.4 per cent to $0.3987, Cardano (ADA) depleted by 1.3 per cent to finish at $0.3943, and Litecoin (LTC) depreciated by 1.1 per cent to quote at $99.17, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) closed flat at $1.00 each.
Dipo Olowookere