The Nigerian currency gained against the US dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market but lost in the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) and black market segments.
In the official exchange rate window, the local currency was valued at N461.50/$1 yesterday, up 0.09 percent or 40 Kobo from last Friday’s value of N461.90/$1.
The Naira strengthened despite a 175.1 percent or $126.42 million increase in demand for forex at the spot market during the session, with FX transactions totaling $198.60 million, up from $72.18 million the previous session.
This feat, however, was not replicated in the P2P window, where the Nigerian Naira fell N5 against the US dollar on Monday, trading at N757/$1, compared to the previous session’s rate of N752/$1.
In the interbank market, the Naira fell by N2.89 against the Pound Sterling yesterday to settle at N554.07/£1 versus N551.18/£1 and fell by N3.97 against the Euro to quote at N491.72/€1 versus N487.75/€1.
Similarly, in the parallel market, the local currency was depreciated by N2 against the US dollar, selling for N743/$1, compared to the previous trading day’s rate of N741/$1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market saw some positive results on Monday, with the largest-valued coin, Bitcoin (BTC), and its rival, Ethereum (ETH), continuing their stellar performance.
The rally began last week when the market seized on positive news from the US inflation report, which revealed a significant drop in consumer prices, an indicator of a healthy economy.
As a result, the total value of all digital assets has reclaimed a critical level of $1 trillion. This is the highest the wider crypto market has been valued since early November when the sudden collapse of FTX sent prices spiraling.
BTC increased by 2.0% to $21,299.47, while ETH increased by 2.6% to $1,589.61, and Ripple (XRP) increased by 1.9% to $0.3928.
Furthermore, Cardano (ADA) increased by 1.5 percent to $0.3928 and Solana (SOL) increased by 1.2 percent to $23.63.
However, Litecoin (LTC) fell 0.7% to $86.92, Dogecoin (DOGE) fell 0.6% to $0.0846, and Binance Coin (BNB) fell 0.2% to $300.67, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) remained flat at $1.00 each.
