Improved FX Liquidity Strengthens Naira by 3.6%

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira strengthened against the United States Dollar by 3.6 per cent or N59.71 at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday to exchange at N1,600.78/$1 compared with the N1,660.49/$1 it closed in the previous session.

The improved in the value of the Nigerian Naira yesterday was bolstered by an enhanced forex liquidity as the value of transactions increased by 6.2 per cent or $20.54 million to $350.72 million from the $330.18 million achieved a day earlier, according to data obtained from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.

Like in the preceding session, the Pound Sterling closed flat against the domestic currency yesterday to remain at N2,153.90/£1 and remained unchanged against the Euro at N1,791.06/€1.

The Naira, however, weakened against the greenback on Friday by N10 in the parallel market to sell for N1,715/$1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,705/$1.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market maintained its upright posture, especially for Dogecoin (DOGE), which went up by 7.1 per cent to $0.1443 in the last 24 hours, bringing its market cap to $20 billion.

The memecoin continued its run, sparked by comments from Elon Musk during a town hall meeting in Folsom, Pennsylvania where he promoted Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy.

When an audience member asked about his idea for a “Department of Government Efficiency” stylised as D.O.G.E, he gave a positive response saying it will make government spending of taxpayer money more efficient while streamlining departments that handle spending.

Further, Litecoin (LTC) expanded by 3.1 per cent to sell at $74.40, Cardano (ADA) rose by 2.1 per cent to $0.3543, Bitcoin (BTC) grew by 0.7 per cent to $68,367.59, Solana (SOL) jumped by 0.7 per cent to $154.81, Ethereum (ETH) gained 0.2 per cent to trade at $2,642.55, and Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 0.1 per cent to $598.77.

On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 0.5 per cent to quote at $0.5467, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.