Friday, 3rd September 2021: The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N411.5/$1 at the official Investors and Exporters window.
Naira gained against the US dollar on Friday, to close at N411.5/$1 compared to N411.67/$1 recorded at the close of trade on Thursday, 2nd September 2021, representing a 0.04% appreciation. In terms of performance for the week, Naira gained N0.5 against the US dollar in the week’s trade.
READ: The appetite for foreign goods is destroying the Naira – CBN
Meanwhile, the exchange rate remained flat at the parallel market to close at N530/$1. This represents a record low compared to an average of N515 recorded in the previous month. The naira fell to an all-time low of N530/$1 against the US dollars in the black market on Thursday and has since maintained the rate.
The depreciation at the black market was attributed to increased demand for foreign exchange by importers who cannot access forex at the official window.
READ: Exchange rate: Is Nigeria better with a weak naira?
Trading at the official NAFEX window
The exchange rate gained against the US dollar on Friday 3rd September 2021 to close at N411.5 to a dollar, representing a 0.04% appreciation compared to N411.67/$1 recorded in the previous trading day.
The opening indicative rate closed at N411.42/$1, the same as recorded on Thursday, 2nd September 2021.
An exchange rate of N412.92 to a dollar was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N411.5/$1, while it sold for as low as N400/$1 during intra-day trading.
Meanwhile, forex turnover at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window decreased from a record high by 57% on Friday 3rd September 2021.
According to data tracked by Nairametrics from FMDQ, forex turnover dipped from $296.34 million recorded on Thursday to $127.51 million on Friday 3rd September 2021.
READ: Does Nigeria really need CBN’s e-Naira?
Cryptocurrency watch
The Crypto market started the week on a bullish note as positive investor sentiments pushed the industry market capitalisation up marginally by 0.21% in the early hours of Monday. Indicating a gain of over 43 billion as of the time of writing this article.
The gain in the market was driven by the positive growth recorded in Bitcoin, which is the world’s most valuable crypto asset. Bitcoin gained marginally by 0.01% to trade above $51.
Meanwhile, Ethereum dipped by 0.22% to trade at $3,942.2, while XRP gained 1.12% at $1.32154.
Meanwhile, Nigeria is set to kick start the pilot scheme of its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) known as ‘e-Naira’ on the 1st of October 2021, with the Blockchain technology known as the Hyperledger Fabric Blockchain being adopted.
Crude oil starts week bearish
The crude oil market started the week on a bearish note with Brent Crude trading at $71.6 per barrel, representing a 1.39% decline as of 6:45am on Monday.
In the same vein, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), also recorded a 1.47% decline in price to trade at $68.27 per barrel, while Natural Gas gained about 0.21% to trade at $4.722.
Nigeria’s local crude oil, Bonny Light also dipped by 0.39% in price to trade at $71.76 per barrel while the OPEC Basket grew marginally by 0.52% to trade at $71.64 per barrel on Monday.
Crude oil prices had surged in the previous week after Hurricane Ida damaged offshore platforms and flooded refineries during the week. During the previous week, member states at the OPEC+ meeting reiterated their commitment to the 400,000 b/d monthly increase over the rest of the month.
External reserve
Nigeria’s foreign reserve rose by $79.9 million as it recorded its seventh increase in over 2 weeks to close at $34.18 billion on Thursday, 2nd September 2021, compared to $34.1 billion recorded as of the previous day. The latest increase represents a 0.23% boost in the country’s foreign reserve.
The reserve has gained $162.24 million in the month of September and has lost a total of $1.19 billion year-to-date compared to $35.37 billion recorded as of 31st December 2021.
While recent reports have suggested that Nigeria’s foreign reserve position could grow as high as $40 billion by the end of September 2021, the recent rally could indicate we are towards hitting the projected numbers.
Thank you for this insightful information.
Kindly check the last sentence in the second to the last paragraph “…..as of December 2021”.
I had thought you meant to say compared to December 2020.
What are they doing with Nigeria oil money. Stil no light no good roods no hospital no schools in some local government areas and some can’t access the available schools by transportation because of land slided port holes on the road the only available means to school is walking those miles every day. Those at the rural area where this oil is been fetch like water are not receiving any social amenities this is pure wickedness.
Please check your penultimate paragraph: “The reserve has gained $162.24 million in the month of September and has lost a total of $1.19 billion year-to-date compared to $35.37 billion recorded as of 31st December 2021”. I believe you were trying to write “31st December 2020”. Please amend accordingly.
Regards
I need regecard