The Naira lost ground against the US dollar in the parallel market and peer-to-peer (P2P) windows of the foreign exchange (forex) market as scarcity of the local currency worsened, sparking violent protests across the country.
In the black market, the Naira to Dollar exchange rate in the midweek session was N757/$1, a N3 decrease from the previous day’s rate of N754/$1.
In the P2P segment, the Nigerian Naira fell by N3 against the US dollar yesterday, settling at N768/$1, down from N765/$1 the previous session.
However, in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the FX market, the domestic currency rose by 17 Kobo, or 0.04 percent, to trade at N461.50/$1 versus N461.67/$1 the previous day.
This occurred as a result of a $89.54 million turnover, which was $20.69 million, or 30.1 percent, higher than the $68.85 million recorded the day before.
In the interbank market, the Naira gained 15 Kobo against the Pound Sterling on Wednesday, closing at N555.98/£1 versus its previous rate of N556.13/£1. However, it lost N1.84 against the Euro, finishing at N494.02/€1 versus N492.18/€1.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) traded above $24,000 in the cryptocurrency market as markets continued to react to the latest US inflation report. The consumer price index increased by 0.5% in January, following a 0.1% increase the previous month. The annual rate of inflation was 6.4 percent overall.
At the close of business yesterday, BTC was up 11.1 percent to $24,643.17, Ethereum (ETH) was up 8.9 percent to $1,690.66, and Solana (SOL) was up 9.7 percent to $23.73.
Furthermore, Binance Coin (BNB) increased by 9.0 percent to $323.26, Dogecoin (DOGE) increased by 7.5% to $0.0895, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 7.4% to $102.60, Cardano (ADA) increased by 7.2% to $0.4128, and Ripple (XRP) increased by 5.6% to $0.4007, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) traded flat at $1.00 each.
