Thursday, 23rd September 2021: The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N413.68/$1, at the official Investors and Exporters window.
Naira depreciated against the US dollar on Thursday, to close at N413.68/$1, representing a 0.12% fall compared to N413.18/$1 recorded on Wednesday 22nd September 2021. The exchange rate has now maintained an average of N413.46/$1 between Monday and Thursday.
Meanwhile, the exchange rate at the parallel market appreciated marginally to close at N571/$1 on Thursday from N572/$1 recorded a day before. This is according to information obtained by Nairametrics from BDC operators in Lagos.
Read: Who will save the Naira?
The crude oil market continued on its bullish trend as Brent crude price surpassed $77 per barrel on Thursday, while Bonny Light traded above $74 per barrel.
Nigeria’s foreign reserve also gained $128.59 million on Wednesday, 22nd September 2021 to close at $35.95 billion, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria. So far in the month of September, the CBN has recorded a total reserve gain of $1.94 billion.
Read: Nigeria’s external reserve falls to lowest in 10 months
Trading at the official NAFEX window
The exchange rate fell against the US dollar on Thursday, 23rd September 2021 to close the day at N413.68 to a dollar, representing a 0.12% depreciation compared to N413.18/$1 recorded on Wednesday, 22nd September 2021.
The opening indicative rate closed at N413.12/$1 on Thursday, representing a 23 kobo depreciation when compared to N412.89/$1 recorded on Wednesday, 22nd September 2021.
An exchange rate of N415 to a dollar was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N413.68/$1, while it sold for as low as N404/$1 during intra-day trading, the same as the previous day.
Read: Nigeria records lowest remittances from abroad since 2008
Meanwhile, forex turnover at the official window dropped by 23.4% on Thursday, 23rd September 2021.
According to data tracked by Nairametrics from FMDQ, forex turnover decreased from $229.72 million recorded on Wednesday to $175.86 million on Thursday 23rd September 2021.
Cryptocurrency watch
The crypto market recovered from the downturn it recorded earlier in the week as it gained 2.52% on Thursday to close at $2.029 trillion having gained 9.14% on Wednesday. This indicates that crypto investors have gained over $214 billion in two days.
The market was pushed by the positive rally recorded by Bitcoin, which gained 2.61% to close at $44,728.99, while Ethereum recorded a gain of 2.17% to close at $3,145.94. XRP, however, dipped 0.95% to close at $0.9946 on Thursday.
The crypto market had endured a bearish trading session on Tuesday as Bitcoin and Ethereum dipped by 5.14% to close at $40,823.77 and 7.35% to close at $2,758.62 respectively. The bearish sentiment in the market was attributed by analysts to the fears regarding the potential default of Evergrande Group, a China-based real estate company whose collapse would affect the equities market.
Meanwhile, Twitter announced in a blog post that the Tipping feature on its platform will accommodate more payment options, including Bitcoin. The social media giant announced that people can now tip with Bitcoin on its platform, using Strike, the American payment application platform that incorporates the use of the Bitcoin Lightning network to enable instant payments globally at virtually no cost.
Crude oil price
The crude oil market traded bullish on Thursday, consolidating on gains recorded in the previous trading session. Brent Crude rallied 1.39% to close at $77.25 per barrel, despite the downturn recorded earlier in the week.
West Texas Intermediate also gained 1.41% to close at $73.25 per barrel, Natural Gas gained 4.64% to close at $5.028 on Thursday. The OPEC Basket closed at $74.46 per barrel, indicating a gain of 1.06%.
Nigeria’s crude, Bonny Light also recorded positive gains, moving upward by 2.44% to close at $74.32 per barrel on Thursday, while other Nigerian crude Brass River and Qua Iboe both recorded 0.97% apiece to close at $74.12.
The positive rally was attributed to supply decline as U.S crude stock dropped to their lowest in three years and the weakening of the U.S dollar. On Wednesday, 22nd September 2021, the Energy Information Administration reported a crude inventory draw of 3.5 million barrels for the previous week, taking its inventories to below 414MMbbls.
External reserve
Nigeria’s foreign reserve gained further by $128.59 million on Wednesday, 22nd September 2021 to close at $35.95 billion compared to $35.83 billion recorded as of the previous day. The latest increase represents a 0.36% boost in the country’s foreign reserve and the highest level since February of the year.
The reserve has now gained $1.94 billion in the month of September 2021, while the recent gain puts the year-to-date gain at $579.77 million.
The recent increase in the reserve position, which has continued since the 25th of August is in line with recent report suggesting that Nigeria’s foreign reserve position could grow as high as $40 billion by the end of September 2021.
Although, hitting $40 billion seems unlikely but it’s a major step in the right direction especially with the oversubscription of the $4 billion Eurobond sourced by the federal government from the international debt market.
Disclaimer: Nairametrics does not set or determine forex rates. The official NAFEX rates are obtained from the website of the FMDQOTC. Parallel market rates are obtained from various sources including online media outlets. The rates you buy or sell forex may be different from what is captured in this article.
