Naira Gains 0.2% at Official Market Amid 23.7% Fall in FX Transactions

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated against the United States Dollar by 0.2 per cent or N3.21 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, August 12 to close at N1,570.99/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,574.20/$1.

Last week, the local currency gained against the greenback in all the trading sessions, the first time it recorded such a feat in a while.

This was buoyed by efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stabilise the market with a series of auctions to official dealers and Bureau de Change (BDCs).

However, at Monday’s session, there was a decline in the supply of FX, leading to a shortfall in turnover by 23.7 per cent or $76.67 million to $246.44 million from the $323.11 million quoted last Friday, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.

Also, the Nigerian Naira improved its value against the Pound Sterling at the spot market yesterday by N6.47 to wrap the session at N2,004.29/£1 versus last Friday’s rate of N2,010.76/£1 and gained N11.78 against the Euro to finish at N1,714.49/€1 versus N1,726.27/€1.

But in the parallel market, the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar on Monday by N5 to sell for N1,595/$1 compared with the preceding trading session’s N1,590/$1.

In the cryptocurrency market, the bulls took charge, with Ethereum (ETH) rising by 4.7 per cent to $2,684.83 as traders took advantage of Ethereum’s median gas price hitting a 5-year low.

Ethereum’s median gas fees fell to 1.9 gigawei (gwei), which is a denomination worth one-billionth of one ETH on August 10. It is the lowest level since mid-2019 and a nearly 98% drop from its 83.1 gwei year-to-date high in March.

Dogecoin (DOGE) rose yesterday by 4.5 per cent to $0.1061, Litecoin (LTC) jumped by 2.1 per cent to $60.96, and Ripple (XRP) recorded a 1.9 per cent growth to trade at $0.5659.

Further, Binance Coin (BNB) expanded by 1.4 per cent to $514.03, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 0.9 per cent to $0.3345, Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 0.5 per cent to $59,017.02, and Solana (SOL) recorded a 0.2 per cent rise to $143.58, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.