The exchange rate of the Naira to the United States Dollar depreciated on Tuesday, August 5, at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) and the black market segments of the foreign exchange (FX).
In the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira weakened against the greenback yesterday by N2 to settle at N1,542/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,540/$1.
In the same vein, the Nigerian currency lost 38 Kobo or 0.02 per cent in the official market to finish at N1,533.03/$1, in contrast to the N1,532.65/$1 it was traded on Monday.
However, the local currency appreciated further against the Pound Sterling in the spot market during the session by N1.23 to finish at N2,037.03/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N2,038.26/£1 and gained N3.42 against the Euro to end at N1,770.58/€1 versus the N1,774.00/€1 it was exchanged a day earlier.
According to a report by Coronation Merchant Bank, pressure came in the market as FX inflows declined further, slipping to $791.10 million from $979.10 million the previous week. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained the largest international contributors with $60.90 million, representing 7.70 per cent of total inflows, while other international sources accounted for just 0.76 per cent.
Meanwhile, non-bank corporates nearly tripled their share to $483.60 million (61.13 per cent), while exporters and importers almost doubled their contributions to $168.60 million (21.31 per cent). Inflows from the CBN and individuals stood at $68.40 million (8.65 per cent) and $3.50 million (0.44 per cent), respectively.
The report noted that the Naira also posted a mild appreciation against the Dollar last week following the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) upward revision of Nigeria’s economic growth forecast.
Amid these developments, traders projected that the Naira will remain within the N1,530 – N1,540/$1 range for the next few months.
In the cryptocurrency market, traders embarked on profit-taking, with Litecoin (LTC) down by 5.0 per cent to sell at $117.91 and Dogecoin (DOGE) slumped by 3.7 per cent to close at $0.1993.
Further, Cardano (ADA) dropped 3.6 per cent to trade at $0.7214, Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 3.4 per cent to $2.94, Solana (SOL) fell by 2.9 per cent to $163.67, Ethereum (ETH) declined by 1.2 per cent to $3,627.35, Binance Coin (BNB) tumbled by 0.9 per cent to $758.91, and Bitcoin (BTC) plunged by 0.4 per cent to $113,993.46, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.