Naira Depreciates to N1,635/$1 at Official Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira lost its footing against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Monday, October 7, amid efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stabilise the forex market.

Yesterday, the domestic currency depreciated against the greenback by 0.24 per cent or N3.94 to sell at N1,635.15/$1, in contrast to last Friday’s value of N1,631.21/$1.

However, it improved its value against the Euro in the official market on the first trading session of the week by N41.15 to quote at N1,788.96/€1 versus the preceding day’s N1,830.11/€1 and traded flat against the British Pound Sterling at N2,175.44/£1.

The FX transactions for Monday at the spot market decreased by 47/3 per cent or $113.12 million to $126.24 million from $239.36 million achieved in the last trading session.

This came after the CBN said over the weekend that it sold about $543.5 million to authorised dealer local deposit money banks (DMBs) to reduce market volatility driven by high demand for commodity imports and seasoned demand for FX between September 6 and 30, 2024.

Like in the official market, the Nigerian Naira weakened against the Dollar in the parallel market on Monday by N5 to trade at N1,675/$1 compared with the preceding day’s rate of N1,670/$1.

A look at the digital currency market showed loss of appetite for crypto as China eased stimulus plans, with investors widely expecting the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to outline more stimulus measures adding to the government’s September plans of rate cuts and liquidity support for the market to rile up a slowing economy.

Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 6.1 per cent to $0.1072, Litecoin (LTC) slid by 4.2 per cent to $64.82, Solana (SOL) crumbled by 4.1 per cent to $143.10, Cardano (ADA) went down by 3.5 per cent to $0.3507, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 2.9 per cent to trade at $2,416.19, Ripple (XRP) slumped by 2.2 per cent to $0.5291, Binance Coin (BNB) declined by 2.0 per cent to $563.07, and Bitcoin (BTC) crashed by 1.8 per cent to $62,343.00, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.