Naira Falls To N609/$1 At Black Market As Forex Liquidity Remains Low

The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N418/$1 at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window.

Naira recorded a 0.24% gain against the US dollar on Wednesday to close at N418/$1 compared to N419/$1 recorded as of the close of trading activities on Tuesday, 24th May 2022. Also, a total of $108.33 million in FX exchanged hands in the market on Wednesday, representing a 24.43% increase compared to $87.06 million traded in the previous session.

Exchange rate at the peer-to-peer market declined further by 0.07% to trade at $608.55 on Thursday morning, compared to N608.12/$1 recorded as of the same time the previous day. The market has already seen the naira depreciate by 0.39% since the CBN announced the increase in interest rates.

Meanwhile, the exchange rate at the parallel market closed at N609/$1 on Wednesday, a 0.66% downturn compared to N605/$1 recorded in the previous trading session. Recall that the exchange rate fell sharply last week as FX liquidity tightened in the market. This is according to information obtained from BDCs operating in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s external reserves depreciated further by 0.07% on Tuesday to stand at $38.63 billion from $38.65 billion recorded as of the previous day. The decline in the external reserve level can be attributed to the continuous intervention by the Central Bank in the FX market in order to ensure the stability of the local currency.

Trading at the official NAFEX window

Naira recorded a second successive gain against the US dollar on Wednesday, with a 0.24% appreciation to close at N489/$1, its highest level in almost three weeks.

• The opening indicative rate closed at N417.79/$1 on Wednesday, 25th May 2022, a 21 kobo appreciation compared to N418/$1 recorded in the previous trading session.
• Furthermore, an exchange rate of N444/$1 was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N418/$1, while it sold for as low as N413/$1 during intra-day trading.
• A total of $108.33 million in FX value was traded on Wednesday, representing a 15.69% increase compared to $87.06 million traded on Tuesday

Crypto market update

The crypto market recorded a marginal decline on Wednesday, closing with a 0.07% drop in market capitalization to stand at $1.252 trillion as of 23:09 (WAT). Although bitcoin recorded a 0.5% increase in price to trade at $29,788.51, Ethereum lost ground by 0.72% to trade at $1,963.

While Uniswap and Terra bother gained 0.36% and 5.62% to trade at $5.62 and $0.000186 respectively on Wednesday, Solana recorded a 2.06% price decline to trade at $48.605.