Naira Depreciates to N1,563/$1 at NAFEX Despite CBN FX Intervention

By Adedapo Adesanya

The value of the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, July 15 after recording its first gain a day earlier.

It was observed that the Nigerian currency lost 0.59 per cent or N71.91 against the greenback during the session despite the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) injecting fresh funds to stabilise the market.

At the close of transactions yesterday, the exchange rate closed at N1,563.80/$1 compared with Thursday’s closing value of N1,491.89/$1.

The central bank announced the sale of about $125.2 million to 46 authorised foreign exchange (FX) dealers in its determination to boost stability and reduce the volatility in the forex market.

A breakdown showed that $67.5 million was allotted to 27 dealers, and the sum of $55.171 million was sold to 19 authorised dealers at N1,540.00/$1. The range of the bid for the sales was N1,480.00 per Dollar and N1,550.00 per Dollar.

Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the value of FX trades in the spot market on Friday shrank by 63.7 per cent or $222.32 million to $126.50 million from the $348.82 million posted a day earlier.

Also in the official market, the domestic currency declined against the Pound Sterling yesterday by N65.96 to finish at N2,017.79/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,951.83/£1 and shed N43.75 against the Euro to sell for N1,689.14/€1 versus N1,645.39/€1.

However, in the parallel market, the Naira maintained stability against the Dollar on Friday, remaining unchanged at N1,560/$1.

In the cryptocurrency market, Ripple (XRP) urged on the first anniversary of Judge Torres’ Summary Judgment in the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) v. Ripple case. This decision marked a pivotal moment in the decision that XRP is not a security. The token appreciated by 11.8 per cent to $0.5102.

Cardano (ADA) gained 6.7 per cent to trade at $0.4245, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 2.7 per cent to $0.1091, Litecoin (LTC) went up by 2.5 per cent to $70.44, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 2.4 per cent to $139.23, and Binance Coin (BNB) increased by 2.4 per cent to $535.30.

In addition, Ethereum (ETH) jumped by 1.9 per cent to $3,140.90, and Bitcoin (BTC) improved its value by 1.7 per cent to trade at $58,199.93, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.