Naira Gains In Official Foreign Exchange Market

 The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N414.83/$1, at the official Investors and Exporters window.

Naira appreciated marginally against the US dollar on Monday, to close at N414.83/$1, representing a 0.02% gain when compared to N414.90/$1 recorded on Friday 24th September 2021.

Meanwhile, the exchange rate at the parallel market closed at N573/$1 on Monday.

The naira gained at the official market despite a 34% drop in dollar supply. The local currency is still hitting a record low against the US dollar at the black market despite the news of Nigeria’s Eurobond sales which is meant to boost its external reserves. Nigeria, last week, sold $4 billion Eurobond after investors oversubscribed to the tune of $12.2 billion.

The rise in external reserve on the back of the Eurobond issue is likely to increase the CBN’s capacity to support the naira.

Trading at the official NAFEX window

The exchange rate appreciated marginally against the US dollar on Monday, 27th September 2021 to close the day at N414.83 to a dollar, representing a 7 kobo gain when compared to N413.90/$1 recorded on Friday, 24th September 2021.

The opening indicative rate closed at N413.30/$1 on Monday, representing a 16 kobo drop when compared to N413.14/$1 recorded on Friday, 24th September 2021.

An exchange rate of N415 to a dollar was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N414.83/$1, while it sold for as low as N405/$1 during intra-day trading, the same as the previous day.

Meanwhile, forex turnover at the official window dropped by 34.12% on Monday, 27th September 2021.

According to data tracked by Nairametrics from the FMDQ, forex turnover declined from $198.59 million recorded on Friday to $130.83 million on Monday 27th September 2021.

Cryptocurrency watch

The global crypto market capitalization stood at $1.96 trillion on Monday, with the market trading up at 5.08% over the course of the last day, according to information on CoinMarketCap.

The total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours was $113.85 billion, which pointed to an increase of 20.52% for the same.

Cryptocurrency investment products and funds posted inflows for a sixth consecutive week, as investors viewed recent regulatory challenges in the sector as buying opportunities, data from digital asset manager, CoinShares showed on Monday.

The world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was down by 3.77% to trade at $42,492.22 after series of consecutive gains within the last week.

The second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Ethereum, dropped by 5.93% to trade at $2,948.46, while XRP was down by 4.31% to trade at $0.933.

Crude oil price

Oil prices rose on Monday, extending the previous day gains, with Brent nearing $80 and WTI Crude exceeding $75 per barrel as global oil and energy markets continue to tighten.

Brent crude was up by 0.49% to trade at $79.92 as of Monday evening as supply tightens and global energy prices rally ahead of the winter season in the northern hemisphere.

Analysts said that oil demand is recovering from the Delta variant faster than expected, but supply is not catching up fast enough. Goldman Sachs had said that the deficit in the oil market is now higher than previously expected. The investment bank had on Sunday, increased its end-2021 oil price forecast to $90 a barrel from $80 per barrel expected earlier, due to robust demand recovery and weaker supply response from OPEC+ and non-OPEC+ producers, some of which, like the U.S, were hit by supply disruptions in the wake of Hurricane Ida.

Also, surging natural gas prices globally amid decade-low inventory levels in Europe and strong Asian LNG demand ahead of the winter are forcing utilities to run more oil- and coal-fired electricity generation.

WTI rose by 0.54% to close at $75.86 per barrel, Natural Gas rose by 6.26% to close at $6,063 on Monday. The OPEC Basket rose by 1.02% to trade at $76.21 per barrel, while Nigeria’s crude, Bonny Light also rose by 2.41% to trade at $78.22 per barrel.

External reserve

Nigeria’s foreign reserve gained further by $19 million on Monday, 27th September 2021 to close at $36.108 billion compared to $36.108 billion recorded as of the previous day. The latest increase represents a 0.02% boost in the country’s foreign reserve and the highest level since February of the year.

The reserve has now gained $2.019 billion in the month of September 2021, while the recent gain puts the year-to-date gain at $733.77 million.

The recent increase in the reserve position, which has continued since the 25th of August is in line with recent reports suggesting that Nigeria’s foreign reserve position could grow as high as $40 billion by the end of September 2021.

Although, hitting $40 billion seems unlikely but it’s a major step in the right direction especially with the oversubscription of the $4 billion Eurobond sourced by the federal government from the international debt market.