Naira Sells N1,659/$1 at Official Market, N1,675/$1 at Black Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The value of the Naira to the Dollar improved in the official and parallel market segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Thursday amid improvement in forex liquidity.

At the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), the Nigerian currency gained 0.6 per cent or N9.89 against the greenback yesterday to sell for N1,659.26/$1, in contrast to Wednesday’s closing rate of N1,669.15/$1, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.

The platform also revealed that the value of FX transactions during the trading day significantly rose by 155.3 per cent or $273.94 million to $450.39 million from the $176.45 million recorded at midweek.

This significant supply of forex to the spot market to meet the demands of FX users yesterday strengthened the local currency at the close of business.

However, this sterling performance was not witnessed with the Naira against the Pound Sterling as it fell at the official market by N56.00 to wrap the session at N2,199.65/£1 versus the preceding day’s N2,143.65/£1 and against the Euro, it weakened by N41.18 to close at N1,830.89/€1 versus N1,789.71/€1.

But the domestic currency put up a good performance against the greenback in the black market on Thursday as it gained N20 to trade at N1,675/$1 compared with the N1,695/$1 it was exchanged a day earlier.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was largely mixed yesterday with investors and traders exhibiting calm following recent developments in the markets as the US Dollar surged to its strongest level since mid-August amid strong economic data and geopolitical turmoil, weighing on risk assets. A stronger Dollar weakens investors’ ability to hold more crypto.

Solana (SOL) slumped by 1.7 per cent to trade at $139.17, Ripple (XRP) dipped 1.3 per cent to $0.5285, Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 0.3 per cent to $2,379.60 and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) depreciated by 0.01 per cent to sell at $0.9999.

On the flip side, Dogecoin (DOGE) appreciated by 2.6 per cent to sell at $0.1081, Litecoin (LTC) improved by 1.6 per cent to trade at $64.46, Cardano (ADA) rose by 0.7 per cent to $0.3491, Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 0.1 per cent to $549.39, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 0.01 per cent to quote at $61,186.48, and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) closed flat at $1.00.