Thursday, 27th January 2022: The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N416.33/$1 at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, where forex is traded officially.
Naira fell against the US dollar on Thursday, back to the level recorded on Tuesday as it depreciated by 0.02 to close at N416.33/$1. The exchange rate has maintained an average of N416.66 to a dollar since the beginning of the new year.
Highlights
Forex turnover at the official market decreased by 7.7% to $113.71 million as opposed to the $123.13 million recorded in the previous trading session.
- On the other hand, the exchange rate appreciated by 0.47% at the P2P market on Friday morning, trading at a minimum of N579.78/$1 compared to N582.5/$1 recorded on Thursday morning.
- Naira closed flat at N568/$1 at the parallel market, the same as recorded in the previous trading session. This is according to information obtained from BDC operators interviewed by Nairametrics.
- Nigeria’s foreign reserve declined by $29.65 million on Wednesday to close at $40.18 billion as of 26th January 2022, representing a 0.07% decline compared to $40.21 billion recorded as of 25th January 2022.
Trading at the official NAFEX window
The exchange rate at the Investors and Exporters window closed at N416.33/$1 on Thursday, 27th January 2022, which represents a 0.02% depreciation compared to N416.25/$1 recorded in the previous trading session
- The opening indicative rate closed at N415.1/$1 on Thursday, which represents 25 kobo appreciation compared to N415.36/$1 recorded in the previous trading session.
- An exchange rate of N444/$1 was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N416.33/$1, while it sold for as low as N408/$1 during intra-day trading.
- Forex turnover at the official window decreased marginally by 7.7% to $113.71 million on Thursday, 27th January 2022.
- According to data tracked by Nairametrics from FMDQ, forex turnover at the I&E window dropped from $123.13 million recorded on Wednesday 26th January 2022 to $113.71 million on Thursday 27th January 2022.
Cryptocurrency watch
The cryptocurrency market suffered a downturn on Thursday, as bitcoin dipped marginally by 0.24% to close at $36,740 as of 12:00am, Nigerian time, leading to a 2.96% in the industry’s market capitalization as crypto investors lost $49.71 billion in a single day trading.
Similarly, Ethereum suffered a 3.24% decline to trade at $2,383.9 and Solana dipped 4.11% to trade at $88.3425. Also, Tera crashed by 10.06% on Thursday to close at $52.8622876 while Uniswap recorded a 4.06% downtrend to close at $10.15.
Crude oil maintains $90 per barrel
The crude oil market continued its bullish trend on Thursday, after Brent Crude maintained the $90 per barrel price, despite falling below during intra-day trading. This is following the tension between Russia and Ukraine, supply tightening, and inventory draw, which has ensured Brent crude maintain bullish run.
On Thursday, Brent Crude recorded a marginal 0.04% gain to close at $90 per barrel as of 12:00 am on Friday, while Natural gas gained massively by 46.48% to close at $6.265. On the other hand, West Texas Intermediate dipped 0.85% to close at $86.61 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the OPEC+ group is expected to decide next week whether it should continue unwinding the oil production cuts by another 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) in March. This is following the resilience of the market despite the growing concerns of the covid-19 in importing nations.
External reserve
Nigeria’s external reserve dropped by 0.07% on Wednesday, 26th January 2022 to close at $40.18 billion, which represents a decline of $29.65 million from the $40.21 billion recorded as of the previous day.
The continuous decline in the country’s reserve level can be attributed to the Central Bank’s intervention in the official market in ensuring the stability of the exchange rate. It is worth noting that the nation’s foreign reserve gained $5.99 billion in the month of October, as a result of the $4 billion raised by the federal government from the issuance of Eurobond in the international debt market.
However, in the month of November, Nigeria’s external reserve lost $611.01 million in value as against a gain of $5.99 million recorded in the previous month and a $2.76 million gain in September 2021. In December 2021, the reserve dipped by $66.17 million, while in January 2022 a total of $336.84 million has been lost in the reserve level.
