Naira appreciates to N741.50/$1 at official market

ADEDAPO ADESANYA FROM BUSINESS POST

The Naira appreciated on the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (forex) market on Monday, July 3, signifying a strong start for the local currency in the second half of the year after last month’s float.

The value of the local currency rose by 3.61 per cent or N27.75 against the greenback yesterday to settle at N741.50/$1, in contrast to the previous trading session’s rate of N769.25/$1.

The Nigerian currency gained this strength after moderation in the value of FX transactions recorded in the official market.

The day’s turnover, as published on the FMDQ Securities Exchange platform, stood at $88.68 million during the session compared with the $263.45 million achieved last Friday, indicating a decline of 66.3 per cent or $174.77 million.

However, in the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) market, the value of the local currency to the US Dollar fell by N9.1o to N777.08/$1 compared with last Friday’s closing value of N767.98/$1.

Similarly, the domestic currency depreciated against its American counterpart in the parallel market by N2 on Monday, closing at N773/$1, in contrast to the preceding trading session’s rate of N771/$1.

Also, the Naira lost N11.68 against the British Pound Sterling yesterday to close at N980.02/£1 compared with the previous session’s N968.34/£1, and against the Euro, it slumped by N9.00 to N840.88/€1 from N831.88/€1.

As for the digital currency market, Bitcoin (BTC) jumped by 1.5 per cent to sell at $31,098.23, Ethereum (ETH) grew by 0.9 per cent to $1,955.82, Cardano (ADA)…