Nigerian Naira Firms Against Dollar at Spot Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian Naira pulled a 25 Kobo or 0.05 per cent gain on the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, January 18.

Data from FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the exchange rate of the Naira at the spot market was N461.25/$1 in the midweek session, in contrast to the N461.50/$1 it was exchanged on Tuesday.

One of the things that helped the local currency gain weight yesterday was the ease in forex demand pressure, as the value of FX transactions at the official market moderated marginally by 0.04 per cent to $55.54 million from $55.52 million.

Similarly, the Naira appreciated against the greenback in the parallel market on Wednesday by N1 to settle at N744/$1 compared with the N745/$1 it was transacted a day earlier.

But it was a different outcome for the domestic currency at the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segment of the FX market yesterday as it lost N4 against the American Dollar to trade at N760/$1 versus Tuesday’s N756/$1.

As for the interbank window, the Nigerian currency further closed flat against the Pound Sterling and the Euro during the session at N554.07/£1 and N491.72/€1, respectively.

Meanwhile, the crypto market turned bearish yesterday as the space corrected due to news of coordinated “international cryptocurrency enforcement action” stirring up uncertainty among traders.

US authorities said on Wednesday they have arrested the majority shareholder and cofounder of Hong Kong-registered virtual currency exchange, Bitzlato Ltd, for allegedly processing $700 million in illicit funds.

The revelation that Bitzlato had been shuttered and its founder arrested was a blow, deflating Solana (SOL) by 8.4 per cent to $21.32.

Cardano (ADA) dropped 6.3 per cent to sell for $0.329, Binance Coin (BNB) slid by 4.3 per cent to $289.35, Litecoin (LTC) went down by 4.1 per cent to $83.54, Ethereum (ETH) crashed by 3.4 per cent to $1,527.94, Dogecoin (DOGE) went south by 3.3 per cent to $0.0809, Bitcoin (BTC) declined by 2.5 per cent to $20,770.51, and Ripple (XRP) slumped by 1.7 per cent to trade at $0.3848.

However, Binance USD (BUSD) and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) remained unchanged yesterday at $1.00 each.