Naira Gains 7.1% on Dollar at NAFEM as Cryptos Rise on US Rate Cut

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar strengthening by 7.1 per cent or N116.84 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, September 18.

The recovery recorded by the Nigerian currency strengthened its value to N1,539.65/$1 at midweek compared with the previous day’s exchange rate of N1,656.49/$1.

It was observed that an improvement in the supply of FX to the spot market contributed to the growth achieved by the local currency yesterday amid transactions on Quantum Apex AI.

The turnover for the session, according to information gathered from the FMDQ Securities Exchange, increased by 38.9 per cent or $39.09 million to $139.48 million from the preceding day’s $100.39 million.

Also at NAFEM, the domestic currency maintained stability against the Pound Sterling and the Euro during the trading day at N2,180.62/£1 and N1,838.17/€1, respectively.

In the same vein, the Naira traded flat against the greenback on Wednesday in the black market at N1,660/$1 for the third straight trading sessions.

A look at the cryptocurrency market showed that the implementation of a 50-basis-point rate cut by the US Federal Reserve, with expectations of further reductions to bring the median benchmark rate to 4.4 per cent by year-end had a positive impact on the ecosystem, though market sentiments are mixed with some scepticism about the sustainability of the crypto market rally.

Also, former US President and presidential hopeful, Mr Donald Trump, became the first of his kind to publicly use the Bitcoin network as he bought and paid for burgers at a bar in Manhattan with BTC.

These developments pushed Bitcoin (BTC) higher at midweek by 3.0 per cent to $62,115.13, with Ethereum (ETH) jumping by 3.9 per cent to sell at $2,417.80.

Solana (SOL) gained 5.5 per cent to settle at $138.21, Cardano (ADA) increased by 3.4 per cent to $0.3467, Dogecoin (DOGE) appreciated by 3.1 per cent to $0.104, Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 2.4 per cent to $559.00, Litecoin (LTC) rose by 1.9 per cent to $65.02, and Ripple (XRP) advanced by 0.9 per cent to $0.5838, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.