Wednesday, 5th January 2022: The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar at the official Investors and Exporters (I&E) window closed at N416/$1.
Naira recorded further gains against the US dollar on Wednesday to close at N4167/$1, representing a 1.58% appreciation compared to N422.67/$1 recorded in the previous trading session. In the same vein, forex turnover at the official market increased by 5.4% to $114.95 million compared to $109.07 million that exchanged hands on Tuesday.
On the other hand, exchange rate fell by 0.36% at the P2P market on Thursday morning trading at a minimum of N571/$1 compared to N568.9/$1 recorded on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, at the parallel market, naira depreciated marginally by 0.18% to close at N568/$1 on Wednesday compared to N567/$1 recorded as of the close of the year. This is according to information obtained from BDC operators interviewed by Nairametrics.
Similarly, Nigeria’s foreign reserve started the year with a decline of $2.518 million to close at $40.52 billion as of 4th January 2022, representing a 0.01% decline compared to $40.52 billion recorded as of 31st December 2021. Meanwhile, 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 N416/$1 on Wednesday, 5th January 2022, which represents a 1.58% gain compared to N422.67/$1 recorded in the previous trading session
- The opening indicative rate closed at N423.56/$1 on Wednesday, which represents a 2.69kobo appreciation compared to N426.25/$1 recorded in the previous trading session.
- An exchange rate of N452.13/$1 was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N416/$1, while it sold for as low as N405/$1 during intra-day trading.
- Forex turnover at the official window increased marginally by 5.4% to $114.95 million on Wednesday, 5th January 2022.
- According to data tracked by Nairametrics from FMDQ, forex turnover at the I&E window increased from $109.07 million recorded on Tuesday 4th January 2022 to $114.95 million on Wednesday 5th January 2022.
Cryptocurrency watch
The bears took the reign at the crypto market on Wednesday as the market lost $118.26 billion in market value, dropping by 5.38% to close at $2.08 trillion.
The flagship crypto asset, bitcoin crashed by 4.89% on Wednesday to close at $43,580.17, while Ethereum even recorded a worse performance with a 6.11% decline to close at $3,555.1. The bearish movement in the market is attributed to the strengthening of the US dollar and the announcement made by the US Federal Reserve.
An intraday sell-off was triggered after the Federal Reserve indicated a rate hike may occur in March rather than the usual timeframe. More than $800 million worth of trading positions were liquidated during the day, with 207,527 traders liquidated. $10 million worth of XBTUSD was liquidated on Bitmex.
Crude oil price
The crude oil market started the day on a bullish note, with Brent Crude recording a 0.09% gain as of press time, while West Texas Intermediate gained 0.21% as of the same time. The market had recorded a marginal dip in some of the crude products on Wednesday, however, Thursday morning saw a reversal as Brent Crude has hit the $80 per barrel mark again.
As of the time of writing this article, Brent Crude was trading at $80.9 per barrel, while WTI trades at $78.04 per barrel. In the same vein, OPEC Basket having gained 1.19% in the early trading on Thursday is currently trading at $78.93 per barrel.
Nigerian crude products, Brass RIver and Qua Iboe closed positive on the previous day with 5.06% gain to close at $80.91 per barrel., while Bonny Light gained 1.62% to close at $80.92 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the Energy Information Administration reported an inventory decline of 2.1 million barrels for the final week of 2021. This compared with a draw of 3.6 million barrels for the previous week, with the total remaining below the average for this time of the year.
External reserve
Nigeria’s external reserve declined by 0.01% on Tuesday, 4th January 2022 to close at $40.518 billion, which represents a decline of $2.42 million as against $40.52 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.
