Exchange rate closes flat at official market as forex turnover

Thursday, 11th November 2021: The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N414.73/$1 at the Investors and Exporters window, where forex is traded officially. Naira closed flat against the US dollar at N414.73/$1 on Thursday, 11th November 2021, having gained 0.08% in the previous trading session from N415.07/$1.

In the same vein, the naira remained flat at the parallel market at N535/$1 on Thursday, having recorded significant gains on Wednesday from N570/$1 which it had maintained for the past few days. According to BDC operators interviewed by Nairametrics, the gain of the local currency is attributed to increased forex liquidity in the country, as the CBN continues to intervene in the market.

Nigeria’s foreign reserve lost $22.26 million on Wednesday, 10th November 2021 to close at $41.56 billion, representing a 0.05% decline.

Trading at the official NAFEX window

The exchange rate remained flat against the US dollar on Thursday, 11th November 2021 to close at N414.73/$1, the same as recorded in the previous trading session.

The opening indicative rate closed at N414.28/$1 on Thursday, indicating a 39 kobo depreciation compared to N413.89/$1 recorded in the previous trading session.

An exchange rate of N444 to a dollar was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N414.73/$1, while it sold for as low as N405/$1 during intra-day trading. The highest rate recorded during the day has been the same in the past two weeks.

Forex turnover at the official window declined by 73.2% to $82.01 million on Thursday.

According to data tracked by Nairametrics from FMDQ, forex turnover at the I&E window decreased from $306.24 million recorded on Wednesday 10th November 2021 to $82.01 million on Thursday 11th November 2021.

Cryptocurrency watch

The crypto market traded marginally bullish on Thursday as the market capitalization gained 1.67% to close at $2.812 trillion, representing a $46.26 billion gain, while Bitcoin gained 0.15% to close at $65,020.43. In the same vein, Ethereum recorded a 2.4% gain to close at $4,745.22.

However, Bitcoin had hit a new peak on Wednesday after the Bureau of Labour Statistics revealed that U.S consumer prices grew at the quickest pace in over 30 years, in October 2021, fueling inflationary fears which increased buying sentiments in the market.

On the other hand, XRP gained 2.04% on Thursday to close at $1.21796 as of 10:49 pm.

Crude oil price

Crude oil prices continued on a bearish note on Thursday, after Brent crude closed with a loss of 0.1% to $82.56 per barrel. This came on the back of recent reports by the Energy Information Administration indicating an inventory build of 1 million barrels for the week ended November 5, 2021.

West Texas Intermediate also dipped 0.18% to close at $81.19 per barrel. On the other hand, Bonny Light gained 0.05% to close at $83.78, while Brass River and Qua Iboe both traded bearish with a loss of 3.21% to close at…