Naira Appreciates to N1,601/$1 at NAFEM on Improved FX Supply

By Adedapo Adesanya

It was a positive outcome for the Nigerian Naira in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday amid an improvement in the supply of forex to the ecosystem.

The country’s currency appreciated against the US Dollar during the trading day at the official market by 3.2 per cent or N52.89 to trade at N1,601.20/$1 compared with Wednesday’s closing price of N1,654.09/$1.

In the same vein, the domestic currency strengthened its value against the Pound Sterling in the spot market yesterday by N7.16 to sell at N2,140.06/£1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2,147.22/£1 and against the Euro, it appreciated N9.77 to quote at N1,780.16/€1 versus midweek’s rate of N1,789.93/€1.

Data showed a rise in supply of FX by 69 per cent or $94.31 million to $230.99 million from the $136.68 million recorded a day earlier.

However, the Naira depreciated against the Dollar in the parallel market on Thursday by N5 to settle at N1,725/$1 compared with the N1,720/$1 it closed in the previous trading session.

In the digital currency market, tokens were bearish yesterday, with Cardano (ADA) shedding 2.7 per cent to finish at $0.3423 after a surge in netflows following an accumulation from large players, or whales. This is the case as whales prefer to accumulate more during periods of dips or prolonged consolidation.

Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 2.3 per cent to finish at $2,495.65, Ripple (XRP) weakened by 1.2 per cent in value to quote at $0.5245, Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 0.3 per cent to close at $591.11, and Dogecoin (DOGE) recorded a 0.2 per cent slide to sell at $0.1395.

On the gainers’ angle, Litecoin (LTC) made a 1.7 per cent rise to close at $71.34, Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 0.5 per cent to settle at $67,685.20, and Solana (SOL) increased by 0.3 per cent to trade at $174.07, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00, respectively.