Exchange rate starts the year with gains at official window despite drop in liquidity
Tuesday, 4th January 2022: The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar at the official Investors and Exporters (I&E) window closed at N422.67/$1.
Naira gained against the US dollar on Tuesday to close at N422.67/$1, starting the year with a 2.84% appreciation compared to N435/$1 recorded on the last trading day of 2021. On the other hand, forex turnover at the official market dropped by 27.4% on Tuesday to $109.07 million.
Meanwhile, at the parallel market, naira depreciated by 0.35% to close at N567/$1 on Tuesday compared to N565/$1 recorded as of the close of the year. This is according to information obtained from BDC operators interviewed by Nairametrics.
Similarly, exchange rate at the P2P market depreciated on Wednesday to trade at N568.95/$1, representing a 0.7% fall compared to N565/$1 recorded on Tuesday, 4th January 2022.
Similarly, Nigeria’s foreign reserve reduced by 0.01% on Friday, 31st December to close at $40.55 billion compared to $40.53 billion recorded as of the previous day. The continuous decline in the nation’s external reserve is attributed to the intervention by the apex bank in the official forex market.
Trading at the official NAFEX window
The exchange rate at the Investors and Exporters window closed at N422.67/$1 on Tuesday, 4th January 2021, which represents a 2.83% gain compared to N435/$1 recorded in the previous trading session
The opening indicative rate closed at N426.25/$1 on Tuesday, which represents a 5.6 kobo depreciation compared to N420.67/$1 recorded in the previous trading session.
An exchange rate of N443.5/$1 was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N422.67/$1, while it sold for as low as N405/$1 during intra-day trading.
Forex turnover at the official window decreased by 27.4% to $109.07 million on Tuesday, 4th January 2022.
According to data tracked by Nairametrics from FMDQ, forex turnover at the I&E window dropped from $150.26 million recorded on Friday 31st December 2021 to $109.07 million on Tuesday 4th January 2021.
Cryptocurrency watch
The cryptocurrency market closed bullish on Tuesday, after gaining about $5.41 billion in value, representing a 0.24% improvement to close at $2.22 trillion. Bitcoin however traded bearish, having dipped 0.44% to close at $46,235.56 on Tuesday.
Similarly, Ethereum gained 1.67% in value on Tuesday to close at $3,827.6, while Solana depreciated by 0.73% to close at $168.8975. In the same vein Luna dipped 3.01%, while Uniswap recorded a 0.43% marginal gain to close at $18.55.
Meanwhile, the president of El-Salvador, Nayib Bukele said that bitcoin will have an impressive run this year, urging his country to be on the lookout for a bitcoin conference in 2022.
Crude oil price
The crude oil market closed on a positive note on Tuesday, as Brent Crude, a benchmark crude product used in assessing the performance of the market started the year with a gain of 1.33% to close at $80.03 per barrel.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI), closed with a gain of 1.25% at $77.03 per barrel, natural gas dipped by 1.78% to close at $3.747. OPEC+ recorded a marginal gain of 0.04% to close at $78 per barrel on Tuesday. Bonny Light traded bearish with a 1.79% decline to close at $77.7 a barrel.
Nigerian crude products, Brass River and Qua Iboe also closed positive with 1.21% gain to close at $77.01 per barrel. It is worth noting that the data on the price for the Nigerian crude products are 1 week delayed.
External reserve
Nigeria’s external reserve declined by 0.01% on Tuesday, 4th January 2022 to close at $40.52 billion, which represents a decline of $5.83 million as against $40.53 billion recorded as of the previous trading day.
The decline in the country’s reserve level can be attributed to the continuous intervention of the apex bank in ensuring the stability of the exchange rate. The exchange rate at the official window as remained stable in the past four trading sessions.
It is worth noting that the nation’s foreign reserve had 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, putting the annual gain at $5.15 billion.
