Friday, 29th October 2021: The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N415.1/$1, at the Investors and Exporters window, where forex is traded officially. Naira closed flat on Friday against the US dollar to close at N415.1/$1, the same as recorded in the previous trading session and a 0.01% depreciation compared to N415.07/$1 recorded on Wednesday, 27th October 2021.
On the flip side, naira gained against the US dollar at the parallel market on Friday by 0.88% to close at N565/$1 compared to N570/$1 recorded as of the close of trading activities on Thursday, 28th October 2021. This is according to information obtained by Nairametrics from BDC operators in Lagos.
Nigeria’s foreign reserve continues to record positive gains, closing at $41.83 billion on Friday, 29th October 2021, representing a $22.2 million boost in the reserve position. The nation’s forex reserve increased by 0.05% on Friday from $41.81 billion recorded as of the previous day.
Trading at the official NAFEX window
The exchange rate remained flat against the US dollar on Friday, 29th October 2021, averaging N415.088 for the week.
The opening indicative rate closed at N414.49/$1 on Friday, which represents a 36 kobo depreciation compared to N414.13/$1 recorded in the previous trading day.
An exchange rate of N444 to a dollar was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N415.1/$1, while it sold for as low as N405/$1 during intra-day trading.
Meanwhile, forex turnover at the official window dropped by 64.5% on Friday, 29th October 2021.
According to data tracked by Nairametrics from FMDQ, forex turnover at the I&E window decreased from $263.7 million recorded on Thursday to $93.71 million on Friday 29th October 2021.
Cryptocurrency watch
The cryptocurrency market closed trading activities on Sunday on a bearish note with a decline of 0.48% to close at $2.61 trillion, indicating a loss of $83.37 billion to crypto investors, having enjoyed a positive rally during the week.
Bitcoin retreated in the same manner by 1.22% on Sunday to close at $61,175.52 while Ethereum also declined by 1.08% to close at $4,276.77. On the other hand, XRP gained 2.38% to close at $1.11123 on Thursday, 21st October 2021.
Meanwhile, according to the latest Finder Cryptocurrency Adoption Index for the month of October 2021, Nigeria had the highest rate of cryptocurrency ownership globally with 24.2%. Also, the survey found that men are 1.7 times more likely to own cryptocurrency than women. Similarly, of those that own crypto in the country, roughly 66.5% of them own Bitcoin.
Crude oil price
Brent Crude oil gained marginally on Sunday, 31st October 2021 to close at $83.72 per barrel, indicating a 0.07% gain compared to $83.66 recorded at the end of the previous trading session. In the same vein, West Texas Intermediate gained 0.92% to close at $83.57 per barrel on Sunday.
On the other hand, Natural gas dipped significantly by 6.16% to close at $5.426, while heating oil also declined by 0.25% to close at $2.479.
Nigeria’s crude, Bonny Light recorded a 0.54% gain to close $83.5 per barrel while Brass River and Qua Iboe both gained 0.68% each to close at $83.43 per barrel.
Meanwhile, oil and gas host communities in Ogoni, Rivers State wrote to the Federal Government to resettle all oil-impacted communities that were displaced as a result of the high level of environmental degradation, before any oil resumption activities can take place in the region.
External reserve
Nigeria’s foreign reserve gained $22.23 million on Friday, 29th October 2021 to close at $41.83 billion compared to $41.81 billion recorded as of the previous day. The latest increase represents a 0.05% increase in the country’s foreign reserve position.
The nation’s foreign reserve gained $5.05 billion in October, on the back of the $4 billion raised by the federal government from the issuance of Eurobond in the international debt market. The gains recorded in the month is higher than the $2.76 billion gain recorded in the month of September 2021, while the recent increase puts the year-to-date gain at $6.46 billion.
Nigeria’s foreign reserve position is heading towards hitting $42 billion with its current continuous gains, indicating more firepower to meet up with pent-up obligations of the federal government.