On Friday, March 17, the Naira depreciated against the US dollar in the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) and black parallel market segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market, but closed stronger in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the same market.
In the P2P wing, the local currency fell by N2 against the US dollar, selling at N755/$1 versus N753/$1 the previous session.
In the parallel market, the Nigerian currency fell by N2 against the US dollar yesterday, closing at N747/$1, compared to N745/$1 on Tuesday.
The local currency, on its part, appreciated against the Dollar by 33 Kobo or 0.07 per cent in the midweek session to settle at N461.09/$1 compared with Tuesday’s exchange rate of N461.42/$1.
This came as daily turnover rose to $142.25 million from the $113.44 million achieved in the previous trading session, indicating an increase in the FX trades by 25.40 per cent or $28.81 million.
In the interbank segment, the Naira was flat against the British Pound Sterling and the Euro during the trading session at N561.67/£1 and N494.65/€1, respectively.
In the cryptocurrency market, the majority of the currencies traded downward after the previous day’s gains as corrections started, with the market reacting positively following the collapse of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank just as slowing inflation gave some level of boost that the US central bank may not hike interest rate next week.
Bitcoin (BTC) slumped 1.7 per cent to sell at $24,473.12, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 3.2 per cent to $1,656.77, Litecoin (LTC) fell by 8.5 per cent to trade at $77.74, Solana (SOL) shed 8.1 per cent to $19.43, and Dogecoin (DOGE) lost 6.6 per cent to quote at $0.0705.
Further, Cardano (ADA) declined by 5.8 per cent to trade at $0.3252, Ripple (XRP) recorded a 3.3 per cent loss to quote at $0.3629, and Binance Coin (BNB) fell by 0.6 per cent to sell $309.45, while the United States Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.