Naira depreciates at official window as foreign reserve records marginal gain.
The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar at the official Investors and Exporters (I&E) window closed at N416.25/$1.
Naira depreciated marginally against the US dollar on Thursday to close at N416.25/$1, representing a 0.06% fall compared to N416/$1 recorded in the previous trading session. Meanwhile, forex turnover at the official market decreased by 1.1% to $113.65 million compared to $114.95 million that exchanged hands on Wednesday.
Exchange rate fell by 0.39% at the P2P market on Friday morning trading at a minimum of N573.2/$1 compared to N571/$1 recorded on Thursday.
Meanwhile, at the parallel market, naira depreciated marginally by 0.7% to close at N572/$1 on Thursday compared to N568/$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 recorded a gain of $634,055 to close at $40.518 billion as of 5th January 2022, representing a 0.002% decline compared to $40.518 billion recorded as of 4th January 2022. This is the first time the reserve has recorded a gain since 26th October 2021, having lost $1.24 billion since then.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank has continued to intervene in the official window, which resulted to a decline in the nation’s external reserve.
Trading at the official NAFEX window
The exchange rate at the Investors and Exporters window closed at N416.25/$1 on Thursday, 6th January 2022, which represents a 0.06% depreciation compared to N416/$1 recorded in the previous trading session
- The opening indicative rate closed at N417.25/$1 on Thursday, which represents a 6.31 kobo appreciation compared to N423.56/$1 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 N416.25/$1, while it sold for as low as N410/$1 during intra-day trading.
- Forex turnover at the official window decreased marginally by 1.1% to $113.65 million on Thursday, 6th January 2022.
- According to data tracked by Nairametrics from FMDQ, forex turnover at the I&E window increased from $114.95 million recorded on Wednesday 5th January 2022 to $113.65 million on Thursday 6th January 2022.
Cryptocurrency watch
The cryptocurrency market continues to suffer from huge sell-offs after the Federal Reserve indicated a rate hike may occur in March rather than the usual timeframe, which resulted to liquidation of over $800 million on Wednesday.
In the early trading hours of Friday, 7th January 2022, the crypto market capitalization fell below $5 trillion in value, after losing $59.7 billion to stand at $1.996 trillion as of the time of writing this article. As of the same time, bitcoin had also dipped 1.89% to trade at $42,279.52, while Ethereum with a 4.78% decline trades at $3,245.58.
Solana recorded a 6.43% drop to trade at $410.65, Luna dipped 6.78% to trade at $72.943, while Uniswap recorded a 5.16% decline to trade at $16.18.
Crude oil price
The crude oil market traded bullish on Thursday, with Brent crude closing with a 1.47% gain to close at $81.99 per barrel. The market also started on a positive note on Friday, as Brent Crude gained 0.37% to trade at $82.29 per barrel as of press time.
In the same vein, West Texas Intermediate gained 0.4% on Friday morning to trade at $79.78 per barrel, improving on the 0.11% gain recorded on Thursday. Natural gas also gained 1.39% to trade at $3.865 per barrel. Nigerian crude products, Brass RIver and Qua Iboe closed positive with 0.05% gain to close at $80.95 per barrel., while Bonny Light gained 1.5% to close at $82.13 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 increased by 0.002% on Wednesday, 5th January 2022 to close at $40.519 billion, which represents a gain of $634,055 as against $40.519 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. Meanwhile, so far in January 2022, Nigeria’s reserve level has lost $1.78 million.
