Naira crashes to N435/$1 at official forex market despite 90% surge in turnover
Thursday, 30th December 2021: The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar at the official Investors and Exporters (I&E) window closed at N435/$1, the highest rate on record.
Naira crashed against the US dollar on Thursday to close at N435/$1, representing a 4.82% depreciation compared to N415/$1 recorded in the previous trading session. The 4.82% fall is the highest movement in either direction in over a year. The last time there was such a movement at the official market was 31st December 2021, when the rate depreciated 4.12% to close at N410.25.
On the other hand, forex turnover at the official market increased by 90.2% on Thursday to $227.29 million.
Meanwhile, at the parallel market, naira gained 158 basis points to close at N560/$1 on Thursday, which represents a 1.58% appreciation compared to N569/$1 recorded on Wednesday. This is according to information obtained from BDC operators interviewed by Nairametrics.
Similarly, exchange rate at the P2P market appreciated marginally on Thursday to close at N569.5/$1 despite opening the day at N570.2/$1. Naira has witnessed continent decline in the past week, dropping from N560.95/$1 recorded before the Christmas break to trade for as high as N571.4/$1 at the P2P market.
Similarly, Nigeria’s foreign reserve reduced by 0.11% on Wednesday, 29th December to close at $40.53 billion compared to $40.58 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 N435/$1 on Thursday, 30th December 2021, which represents a 4.82% depreciation compared to N415/$1 recorded in the previous trading session
- The opening indicative rate closed at N413.79/$1 on Thursday, which represents a 24 kobo appreciation compared to N414.03/$1 recorded in the previous trading session.
- An exchange rate of N445.5/$1 was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N435/$1, while it sold for as low as N408/$1 during intra-day trading.
- Forex turnover at the official window surged by 90.2% to $227.29 million on Thursday, 30th December 2021.
- According to data tracked by Nairametrics from FMDQ, forex turnover at the I&E window increased from $119.48 million recorded on Thursday 29th December 2021 to $227.29 million on Thursday 30th December 2021.
Cryptocurrency watch
The cryptocurrency market closed bullish on Thursday, after gaining about $36.3 billion in value, representing a 1.66% improvement to close at $2.23 trillion. The positive direction of the market was triggered by the 1.77% gain in the flagship crypto asset, bitcoin to close at $47,306.31.
Similarly, Ethereum gained 3.1% in value on Thursday to close at $3,740.23, while Solana appreciated by 1.48% to close at $173.1275. In the same vein Luna gained 0.15%, while Uniswap recorded a 2.98% gain to close at $17.64.
Meanwhile, Binance Coin surpassed its two larger rivals, Bitcoin and Ether, among the three largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Binance Coin (BNB), a competitor to Bitcoin and Ether and the third largest cryptocurrency by market value, has outpaced the two most popular digital tokens. As of Thursday morning, Binance coin has risen nearly 1,298% this year (year-to-date).
Crude oil price
The crude oil market also closed on a positive note on Thursday, as Brent Crude, a benchmark crude product used in assessing the performance of the market gained 0.11% to close at $79.32 per barrel.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Tuesday reported an inventory draw of 3.6 million barrels for the Christmas week compared to the report of the American Petroleum Institute, which estimates crude oil inventory draw of 3.09 million barrels for the same week.
However, West Texas Intermediate crude product dipped marginally by 0.07% to close at $76.51 per barrel on Thursday, while natural gas also dipped by 6.88% to close at $3.585. The OPEC basket has remained flat for the past one week at $74.23 per barrel of crude.
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 6 days delayed. Bonny Light also gained 3.34% to close at $77.9 per barrel.
External reserve
Nigeria’s external reserve declined by 0.11% on Wednesday, 29th December 2021 to close at $40.53 billion, which represents a decline of $46.31 million as against $40.585illion 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. So far in the month of December, the reserve level has lost over $657.32 million, while on a year-to-date basis, the reserve gain has reduced to $5.16 billion.
