Wednesday, 9th February 2022: The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N416/$1 at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, where forex is traded officially.
Naira appreciated against the US dollar on Wednesday with a 0.16% gain to close at N416/$1 compared to N416.67/$1 recorded as of the close of trading activities on Tuesday, 8th February 2022. Also, forex turnover at the official market surged by 129.27% to $170.94 million.
On the other hand, Naira fell by 0.7% at the parallel market on Wednesday 9th February 2022, to close at N573/$1 compared to N569/$1 recorded in the previous trading session. This is according to information obtained from BDC operators interviewed by Nairametrics.
Meanwhile, the exchange rate appreciated marginally at the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) forex market, trading at a minimum of N574 to a dollar on Thursday morning. This represents a 0.03% uptick as opposed to N574.17/$ recorded in the previous trading session.
Nigeria’s foreign reserve continued with a downtrend having reduced by 0.06% to close at $39.92 billion as of Tuesday, 8th February 2022.
Trading at the official NAFEX window
The exchange rate at the Investors and Exporters window closed at N416/$1 on Wednesday, 9th February 2022, which represents a 0.16% appreciation compared to N416.65/$1 recorded in the previous trading session
- The opening indicative rate closed to N415.15/$1 on Wednesday, which represents an 83 kobo appreciation compared to N415.98/$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/$1, while it sold for as low as N410/$1 during intra-day trading,
- Meanwhile, forex turnover at the official window increased massively by 129.27% to $170.94 million on Wednesday
- According to data tracked by Nairametrics from FMDQ, forex turnover at the I&E window increased to $170.94 million on Wednesday from $125.1 million recorded on Tuesday, 8th February 2022.
Crypto market
The cryptocurrency market is still clouded by bearish sentiment; however, industry capitalization managed a 1.61% gain on Wednesday to close at $2 trillion, representing a $31.704 billion boost compared to $1.97 trillion recorded as of the close of trading activities on Tuesday.
Crypto flagship asset, bitcoin gained 0.97% on Wednesday to close at $44,520.33, while Ethereum recorded a gain of 3.88% to close at $3,240.52. Also, Solana gained 0.8% to close at $114.4425 while Terra appreciated by 0.42% to close at $57.5369211.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DoJ) in the United States announced that they have made arrests and seized $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin from the hackers who stole 119,756 BTC from the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, six years ago
Crude oil market
Brent crude appreciated by 1.04% on Wednesday to close at $91.72 per barrel following the announcement of an inventory crude on Tuesday, overturning the decline recorded in the previous trading session.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) appreciated by 0.71% to close at $89.99 per barrel, while natural gas declined by 5.3% on Wednesday to close at $4.023 a barrel.
Recall that the American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated the inventory draw this week for crude oil to be 2.025 million barrels bringing the total inventory draws of the US to about 78 million barrels since the beginning of 2021.
On the flip side, Nigeria’s Bonny light dipped by 2.94% to close at $91.88 per barrel and OPEC basket declined by 1.34% to close at $92.17 per barrel.
External reserve
Nigeria’s external reserve dropped by 0.06% on Tuesday, 8th February 2022 to close at $39.92 billion, which represents a decline of $22.81 million from the $39.94 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. Although it is worth noting that the decline has been very minimal in recent times, largely attributable to the rally in crude oil prices.
Nigeria’s reserve level declined by $481.37 million in January 2022 following the $66.17 million depreciation recorded in the previous month. Meanwhile, year-to-date, Nigeria’s reserve has declined by $599.85 million despite the rally at the global crude oil market.
