Tuesday, 21st December 2021: The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N415.1/$1 at the official Investors and Exporters (I&E) window.
Naira depreciated by 0.07% against the US dollar on Tuesday to close at N415.1/$1 compared to N414.8/$1 recorded in the previous trading session. Meanwhile, forex turnover at the official market recorded a marginal decline of 10.2% to $323.56 million from $360.18 million recorded in the previous trading session.
On the other hand, naira depreciated against the US dollar on Tuesday to close at N575/$1, from an average of N573/$1 recorded in the previous day. This is according to information obtained from BDC operators interviewed by Nairametrics.
Nigeria’s foreign reserve reduced by 0.12% on Monday, 20th December to close at $40.32 billion compared to $40.67 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 depreciated by 0.07% to close at N415.1/$1 on Tuesday, compared to N414.8/$1 recorded on Monday, 20th December 2021.
- The opening indicative rate closed at N414.11/$1 on Tuesday, which represents a 27 kobo depreciation compared to N413.84/$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 N415.1/$1, while it sold for as low as N404/$1 during intra-day trading.
- Forex turnover at the official window reduced marginally by 10.2% to $323.56 million on Tuesday, 21st December 2021.
- According to data tracked by Nairametrics from FMDQ, forex turnover at the I&E window decreased from $360.18 million recorded on Monday 20th December 2021 to $323.56 million on Tuesday 21st December 2021.
Cryptocurrency watch
The cryptocurrency market closed bullish on Tuesday, after enduring a series of bearish trade in recent times. The industry market capitalisation gained ground with 3.78% appreciation to close at $2.276 trillion, representing a gain of $82.81 billion in a single day.
The movement in the market was triggered by the buy interest in the flagship cryptocurrency after bitcoin gained 4.49% on Tuesday to close at $49,020.37. In the same vein, Ethereum also gained 2.14% to close at $4,030.47.
Solana, Luna, and Uniswap all recorded positive growth in their prices as they gained 2.9%, 5.9%, and 3.17% to close at $179.0575, $86.8279, and $14.98 respectively.
Meanwhile, former U.S. President Donald Trump has said that crypto is “a very dangerous thing.” Commenting on cryptocurrencies, he warned of “an explosion someday” that will “make the big tech explosion look like baby stuff.” He also talked about his new social media platform, Truth Social, and his wife’s non-fungible token (NFT) venture
Crude oil price
The crude oil market also traded bullish on Tuesday as Brent Crude gained 3.54% to close at $74.05 per barrel as supply issues in Libya and falling U.S. oil inventories pushed prices higher. In the same vein, West Texas Intermediate gained 3.98% to close at $71.34 per barrel.
Also, the price of natural gas increased marginally by 0.86% to close at $3.867 per barrel while heating oil gained 3.99% to close at $2.26 per barrel. At the same time, the OPEC Basket closed flat at $74.23 per barrel while Bonny Light recorded a 5.06% decline to close at $69.54 per barrel.
Nigerian crude oil, Brass RIver and Qua Iboe also closed positive with 2.05% loss to close at $73.05 per barrel.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated the inventory draw for the previous week to be 3.670 million barrels, taking the year-to-date drawback to 65 million barrels for the U.S.
External reserve
Nigeria’s external reserve dipped by 0.12% on Monday, 20th December 2021 to close at $40.6 billion, which represents a decline of 49.32 million compared to $40.67 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.
In the month of November, Nigeria’s external reserve lost $633.47 million in value as against a gain of $5.99 million recorded in the previous month and $2.76 million gain in September 2021. So far in the month of December, the reserve level has lost $566.8 million, while on a year-to-date basis, the reserve gain has reduced to $5.25 billion.
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