Wednesday 23rd March 2022: The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N417/$1 at the official Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, maintaining the same rate as the previous day.
The exchange rate at the I&E window closed flat at N417/$1 on Wednesday, 23rd March 2022, the same as recorded on Tuesday. Recall that the official rate had depreciated by 0.18% in the previous trading session.
The exchange rate at the parallel market recorded a market depreciation, selling for an average of N583/$1, representing a 0.87% downturn compared to N578/$1 recorded in the previous session. This is according to information obtained from BDCs operating in Nigeria.
Naira recorded a marginal gain at the Peer-to-peer market (P2P) to trade at a minimum of N582.1/$1 in the early hours of Thursday, which is 0.342% higher than N584.1/$1 recorded on Wednesday
In terms of foreign reserve, Nigeria’s FX reserve dipped further by 0.09% to stand at $39.54 billion as of Tuesday, 22nd March 2022 compared to $39.58 billion recorded as of the previous day. The decline is attributed to the continuous intervention by the CBN in the official market.
Trading at the official NAFEX window
The exchange rate at the Investors and Exporters window closed at N417/$1 on Wednesday, 23rd March 2022, which is the same as the closing rate for the previous trading session.
- The opening indicative rate closed at N415.98/$1 on Wednesday, representing a 10 kobo depreciation compared to the N415.88/$1 recorded on Tuesday, 22nd March 2022.
- An exchange rate of N444/$1 was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N417/$1, while it sold for as low as N410/$1 during intra-day trading,
- A sum of $135.69 million was traded in FX at the official Investors and Exporters window on Wednesday.
- According to the data from the FMDQ, forex turnover increased by 72.39% from $78.71 million recorded on Tuesday to $135.69 million on Wednesday, 23rd March 2022.
Crypto market update
The crypto market resumed trading on Thursday, 24th March 2022 with a 0.61% appreciation in the industry market capitalization to stand at $1.92 trillion.
- The movement in the market is largely driven by the performance of bitcoin and Ethereum, which are the most capitalized crypto assets. Flagship cryptocurrency, bitcoin gained 0.65% to trade at $43,204.82 in the early trading hours of Thursday.
- In the same vein, Ethereum recorded a price gain of 0.51% to trade at $3,054.88, Terra gained 0.06% to trade at $94.9819. Also, Solana gained 2.23% to trade at $96.99, while Uniswap recorded a 2.6% gain to trade at $10.28.
- Meanwhile, Thailand has prohibited the usage of digital assets as a means of payment for goods and services. The Asian country, continues with its clamp down on the cryptocurrency industry as it warns, the adoption of the assets could threaten its financial system and economy.