Friday, 9th July 2021: The exchange rate between the naira and the USD closed at N411.75/$1 at the official Investors and Exporters forex window.
Naira fell against the US dollar on Friday to close at N411.75/$1, representing a 0.12% depreciation compared to N411.25/$1 recorded on Thursday. It also represents a 0.12% week-on-week fall compared to N411.25/$1 recorded at the end of the previous week.
At the parallel market, naira also fell against the US dollar to close at N505/$1 compared to N503/$1 recorded on Thursday, 8th July 2021.
Trading at the official NAFEX window
Naira depreciated against the US dollar at the Investors and Exporters window on Friday to close at N411.75/$1 from N411.25/$1 recorded at the end of trade on Thursday, 8th July 2021.
- The opening indicative rate however appreciated from N411.75/$1 recorded on Thursday to close at N411.29/$1 on Friday.
- An exchange rate of N460.11 to a dollar was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N411.75/$1, while it sold for as low as N400/$1 during intra-day trading.
- Meanwhile, forex turnover at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window declined by 12% on Friday, 9th July 2021.
- Forex turnover decreased from $84.06 million recorded on Thursday, 8th July 2021 to $73.99 million on Friday, 9th July 2021.
Cryptocurrency watch
The crypto market ended the day on a positive note as the market investors gained $32.7 billion on Sunday, 11th July 2021.
- The crypto market capitalisation gained 2.73% to close at $1.4 trillion on Sunday, while the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin gained 2.68% to close at $34,414.9.
- Ethereum also recorded a 2.66% gain to close at $2,165.88.
- Meanwhile, a leading United Kingdom-based bank, Santander, has reportedly blocked its customers from making payments to the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance.
- Santander notified its customers via Twitter that it would be suspending payments to Binance until further notice due to crypto irregularities.
Crude oil price
Crude oil prices traded positively on Sunday, 11th July 2021, as Brent Crude closed at $75.55 per barrel, representing a 1.93% gain for the day.
- In the same vein, WTI Crude recorded a 2.22% gain to close at $74.56 per barrel. However, Bonny Light and OPEC Baskets both dipped by 0.6% and 2.19% to close at $74.16 and $71.97 respectively.
- Natural Gas closed at $3.674, which represents a 0.38% bearish trade on Sunday.
- The positive performance was attributed to strong U.S fuel consumption as data from the EIA revealed that U.S gasoline remand rose by 870,000 bpd in the previous week, the highest level since 2019.
- Meanwhile, according to the EIA monthly outlook report, Brent Crude Spot prices are set to average around $68.78 per barrel this year.
- The report also noted that as of July 1, the average spot price of the U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, would be $65.85 per barrel this year, up from an average of $61.85 per barrel expected last month.
External reserve
Nigeria’s external reserve recorded its second gain on Thursday, 8th July 2021, increasing by $636,429 to close at $33.12 billion.
- The marginal increase recorded in Nigeria’s external reserve level helped to reduce the month-to-date decline to $202.74 million while its year-to-date loss stands at $2.25 billion.
- It appears that the initial rise in the price of crude oil is beginning to reflect in Nigeria’s reserve as India, one of our biggest oil importers, starts recovering from the second wave of the pandemic.
- Nigeria will hope that this continues so as to have more foreign reserves in order to meet up with pent-up obligations.