On Tuesday’s first working day of the year, the Naira fell against the US dollar in the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segment of the foreign exchange market.
In the P2P forex window, the Nigerian currency fell by N6 against the US dollar to close at N749/$1, down from N743/$1 on Monday.
In addition, the local currency lost N2 against the US dollar in the black market yesterday, settling at N737/$1, down from N735/$1 the previous session.
However, in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment, the Naira gained 50 Kobo, or 0.11 percent, to close at N461.00/$1 compared to last Friday’s rate of N461.50/$1 due to a drop in the value of FX transactions in the market window.
According to FMDQ Securities Exchange data, forex worth $153.45 million was traded during the trading day, a decrease of $22.79 million or 12.93% from the previous session’s total of $176.24 million.
The exchange rate benchmark of the N21.8 trillion appropriation bill signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday was N435.57/$1, which differed from the current rate. It was N410.15/$1 in the 2022 budget, while the crude oil benchmark was raised by 13% to $70 per barrel from $62 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the Naira closed flat against the Pound Sterling and the Euro yesterday, at N540.70/£1 and N479.45/€1, respectively, in the interbank market.
The cryptocurrency market continued its bearish trend on Tuesday, as the 10 currencies used by Business Post to assess the daily direction of the industry moved in different directions.
Dogecoin (DOGE) fell 2.9 percent to $0.0702, Ripple (XRP) fell 1.7 percent to $0.3459, Cardano (ADA) fell 1.5 percent to $0.2511, Ethereum (ETH) fell 0.6 percent to $1,210.26, Binance Coin (BNB) fell 0.5 percent to $245.41, and Bitcoin (BTC) fell 0.4 percent to $16,655.55.
However, Solana (SOL) increased by 16 percent to sell at $13.02, while Litecoin (LTC) increased by 0.7% to $75.35, with Binance USD (BUSD) and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) closing flat at $1.00 each.