Monday, 4th October 2021: The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N413.55/$1, at the official Investors and Exporters window.
Naira depreciated against the US dollar on Monday, to close at N413.55/$1, representing a 0.12% fall compared to N413.38/$1 recorded on Thursday 30th September 2021. The exchange rate maintained an average of N414.36/$1 in the previous week.
In the same vein, the exchange rate at the parallel market fell by 0.7% to close at N577/$1 on Monday from N573/$1 recorded in the previous week. This is according to information obtained by Nairametrics from BDC operators in Lagos.
The crude oil market continued on its bullish trend as Brent crude price closed at $81.31 per barrel on Monday as the OPEC+ continue to maintain production quota.
Nigeria’s foreign reserve also gained $186.9 million on Thursday, 30th September 2021 to close at $36.78 billion, hitting its highest level in almost 20 months. This is according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Trading at the official NAFEX window
The exchange rate fell against the US dollar on Monday, 4th October 2021 to close the day at N413.55 to a dollar, representing a 0.04% depreciation compared to N413.18/$1 recorded on Thursday, 30th September 2021.
- The opening indicative rate closed at N413.71/$1 on Monday, the same as recorded on Thursday, 30 September 2021.
- An exchange rate of N415.5 to a dollar was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N413.55/$1, while it sold for as low as N404/$1 during intra-day trading, the same as the previous trading day.
- Meanwhile, forex turnover at the official window dropped by 22.9% on Monday, 4th September 2021.
- According to data tracked by Nairametrics from FMDQ, forex turnover decreased from $141.13 million recorded on Thursday last week to $108.83 million on Monday 4th October 2021.
Cryptocurrency watch
The world’s most popular and capitalised crypto asset, bitcoin is on its way to hitting the $50,000 mark as it is currently trading at $49,350 on Tuesday, recording a gain of 0.22% as of the time of compiling this report.
In the same vein, the crypto market also gained 0.39% to stand at $2.17 trillion, indicating an $8.94 billion gain as of 7:20am on Tuesday. Ethereum has recorded a 0.2% gain to trade at $3,391.38 while XRP with a gain of 0.67% trades at $1.04923.
Meanwhile, Nigerian traded about $32.16 million in bitcoin in the month of September, indicating a drop compared to the $44 million recorded in the previous month. The total trading volumes between January and September 2021 stood at $315.76 million.
Crude oil prices
The crude oil market enjoyed a positive trade on Monday, as Brent Crude gained 2.56% to close at $81.31 per barrel, consolidating on gains recorded in recent weeks. West Texas Intermediate also gained 2.29% to close at $77.62 per barrel.
However, Nigeria’s crude, Bonny Light dropped by 0.19% to close at $77.67 per barrel on Monday, while other Nigerian crude, Brass River and Qua Iboe both recorded 0.98% gains apiece to close at $78.52 per barrel.
The OPEC+ meeting ended on Monday as the group decided to maintain its initial 400,000 Bpd increase in oil production. Recall that the OPEC+ decided in July that it would begin returning 400,000 barrels per day to the market on a monthly basis from August till it is able to unwind the 5.8 million pbd cut.
External reserve
Nigeria’s foreign reserve gained further by $186.9 million on Thursday, 30th September 2021 to close at $36.78 billion compared to $36.59 billion recorded as of the previous day. The latest increase represents a 0.51% boost in the country’s foreign reserve and the highest level in almost 20 months.
The reserve gained a record $2.76 billion in the month of September 2021, while the recent gain puts the year-to-date gain at $1.41 billion.
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 the reserves did not hit $40 billion as predicted, however, it continues to record positive growth and could cross the predicted line by the end of the month, if it maintains this trajectory.
With the oversubscription of the $4 billion Eurobond sourced by the federal government from the international debt market, the reserve is likely to get more firepower in the coming weeks.
