Naira Appreciates to N1,481/$1 at Official Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira improves its value against the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday by N7.11 or 0.5 per cent to exchange at N1,481.49/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s value of N1,488.60/$1, indicating that it may find support from recent moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Naira experienced a significant decline in value, reaching a low of N1,600/$1 in the spot market in March, prompting the apex bank to implement a series of policy measures, which have resulted in positive outcomes, albeit in the short term. Recent trends indicate that the local currency is reversing its downward trajectory.

Indications show that the settlement of over $1.3 billion FX forwards contracts by the CBN last week has reduced the volume of unsettled forex contracts and will cut forex pressure against the Naira, helping the local currency to rebound.

At the market yesterday, the value of FX transactions at NAFEM slightly moved up by 3.8 per cent or $7.88 million to $213.31 million from the $205.43 million recorded on Wednesday.

However, the Naira weakened against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N13.34 to sell for N1,893.23/£1 versus N1,879.89/£1 and depreciated by N6.34 against the Euro to finish at N1,611.04/€1 versus N1,604.70/€1.

In the black market, the local currency appreciated against the greenback during the session by N5 to quote at N1,495/$1 compared with midweek’s rate of N1,500/$1.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies fell on Thursday, with Solana (SOL) declining by 1.8 per cent to $170.40, and Dogecoin (DOGE) losing 1.6 per cent to sell at $0.1605.

Further, Ethereum (ETH) lost 1.2 per cent to finish at $3,805.95, Cardano (ADA) went down by 1.1 per cent to $0.4564, Litecoin (LTC) weakened by 0.8 per cent to $84.37, Ripple (XRP) also contracted by 0.8 per cent to $0.5214, and Bitcoin (BTC) slid by 0.6 per cent to settle at $70,756.67, while Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 2.1 per cent to trade at $709.02, with the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) trading flat at $1.00 each.