Dollar supply falls sharply at I&E window as exchange rate depreciates

The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N418.5/$1 at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, where FX is traded officially.

The exchange rate depreciated on Tuesday to close at N418.5 to a dollar, representing a 0.29% downturn compared to the N417.3/$1 recorded as of the close of trading activities on the previous day. The depreciation follows a 62.41% drop in forex turnover as $109.43 million exchanged hands.

Also, naira depreciated by 0.51% on Tuesday to close at N590/$1, as against the N587/$ rate sold in the previous session. This is according to information obtained from BDCs operating in Nigeria.

On the other hand, the exchange rate at the peer-to-peer market recorded a slight appreciation to trade at a minimum of N590/$1 on Wednesday morning, which is 0.017% lower than the rate recorded in the previous trading session.

Nigeria’s external reserve depreciated for the second day in a row, with a 0.23% decline to stand at $39.71 billion as of 25th April 2022, compared to the $39.81 billion recorded as of the previous day. Meanwhile, the decline in the external reserve level can be attributed to the continuous intervention by the Central Bank in the FX market in order to ensure stability of the local currency.

Trading at the official NAFEX window

The exchange rate at the Investors and Exporters window closed at N418.5/$1 on Tuesday, 26th April 2022, representing a 0.29% depreciation against the US dollar compared to N417.3/$1 recorded in the previous trading session.

• The opening indicative rate closed at N417.5/$1 on Tuesday, 26th April 2022, which is 58 kobo higher than the N416.92/$ 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 N418.5/$1, while it sold for as low as N410/$1 during intra-day trading,
• A total of $109.43 million was traded in FX at the official Investors and Exporters window on Tuesday.
• According to the data from the FMDQ, forex turnover declined significantly by 62.41% from $291.1 million recorded on Monday to $109.43 million on Tuesday, 26th April 2022.

Crypto market update

The crypto market started the day on Wednesday on a positive note despite bearish turnout the previous day. As of press time, the industry market capitalization had gained 1.67% to stand at $1.758 trillion.

The movement in the market is triggered by the bullish sentiment in the most capitalized crypto assets, bitcoin and Ethereum. The flagship and most valuable crypto asset, bitcoin gained 1.45% to trade at $38,690.36 as of the time of writing this article.

Ethereum followed with a 2.38% gain to trade at $2,876.05, Solana trades at $98.2975 with a 2.72% gain, Terra gained 1.34% to trade at $89.6716, while Uniswap having gained 3.37% in price traded at $8.27.