Naira Crashes to N1,660/$1 at Official Market Despite Boost FX Supply

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira depreciated marginally for another trading session against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, October 17 despite an improvement in the supply of forex to the market.

The value of the local currency crashed against the greenback in the official market yesterday by 0.05 per cent or 80 Kobo to settle at N1,660.49/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,659.69/$1.

The rise in turnover by 86.4 per cent or $153.08 million during the session to $330.18 million from the $177.10 million published the previous day could not save the domestic currency from falling at the close of transactions.

However, the Nigerian currency maintained stability against the Pound Sterling in the spot market on Thursday at N2,153.90/£1 and depreciated against the Euro by N9.73 to trade at N1,791.06/€1 compared with Wednesday’s closing price of N1,800.79/€1.

A look at the parallel market showed that the Naira traded flat against the Dollar yesterday at N1,705/$1, according to data obtained by Business Post.

As for the digital currency market, Dogecoin (DOGE) appreciated by 8.9 per cent to sell at $0.1344 after taking developments in the US presidential elections to grow its value.

Billionaire Elon Musk touted the Department of Government Efficiency at Republican candidate Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania Campaign. The proposed department, abbreviated as D.O.G.E, will seek to make government spending of taxpayer money more efficient while streamlining departments that handle spending.

Mr Musk has emerged as a key backer of Mr Trump’s presidential campaign in the past months and has donated over $75 million to the American PAC since July.

The expectation among crypto traders is that a Trump victory could lead to more attention and interest in Dogecoin in the future if D.O.G.E actually becomes a part of the government.

Further, Litecoin (LTC) gained 1.9 per cent to trade at $72.49, Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 0.9 per cent to $68,077.55, and Solana (SOL) jumped by 0.4 per cent to close at $153.58.

On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 2.3 per cent to $0.5473, Cardano (ADA) lost 1.1 per cent to quote at $0.3477, Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 0.5 per cent to $597.63, and Ethereum (ETH) declined by 0.3 per cent to $2,626.68, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00, respectively.