A 0.09 per cent or N1.34 loss was suffered by the Naira against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, January 21, to close at N1,420.69/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,419.35/$1.
It was a similar scenario for the local currency in the official market, where is lost 53 Kobo against the Pound Sterling at midweek to sell for N1,908.84/£1 versus Tuesday’s closing price of N1,908.31/£1 and stumbled against the Euro by 83 Kobo to settle at N1,665.48/€1 compared with the previous session’s N1,666.31/€1.
But, in the black market and GTBank forex desk, the Nigerian currency traded flat against the greenback at N1,485/$1 and N1,429/$1, respectively.
Increased demand for Dollar was stemmed down by Naira demand by foreign portfolio investors that participated in the OMO bills yesterday.
In addition, the market has seen increased FX inflows from exporters, supported by sustained Dollar volume from non-bank corporate, individual and other sources.
As for the cryptocurrency market, prices rebounded after President Donald Trump of the United States softened tariff threats tied to Greenland during his Davos appearance.
The move capped a volatile 24 hours for crypto markets, which were dragged lower earlier in the week by a global risk-off wave sparked by Trump’s threats toward Europe, a jump in bond yields, and renewed anxiety across equity markets.
Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 1.9 per cent to $1.95, Cardano (ADA) improved by 1.5 per cent to trade at $0.3652, Solana (SOL) climbed by 1.3 per cent to sell $129.97, and Ethereum (ETH) went up by 1.2 per cent to trade at $3,014.51.
In addition, Binance Coin (BNB) improved by 1.1 per cent to close at $889.83, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 1.0 per cent to $0.1266, and Bitcoin (BTC) expanded by 0.5 per cent to end at $$90,031.72, while Litecoin (LTC) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to $68.40, with the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remaining unchanged at $1.00 each.