By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira depreciated against the US Dollar on Thursday, November 14, in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), as the market continued to battle a stronger Dollar and a liquidity squeeze amid seasonal demand ahead of the festive season.
Data showed that the value of the local currency to the greenback weakened by N4.80 or 0.29 per cent to close at N1,650.20/$1 compared with Wednesday’s closing rate of N1,645.40/$1.
The daily supply of FX as measured by secondary data from FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited indicated that turnover slumped by $22.11 million or 9.3 per cent to $214.73 million from $236.84 million.
The Dollar continued to strengthen in the international market, leading to other currencies trading against it to weaken. This is adding to pressure faced by the local currency including a liquidity squeeze and a high seasonal demand.
Meanwhile, the Naira strengthened its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N7.71 to sell at N2,100.54/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N2,108.25/£1.
It followed the same route against the Euro as it appreciated by N10.93 to quote at N1,746.36/€1 versus the preceding rate of N1,757.29/€1.
As for the parallel market segment, the Naira depreciated against the Dollar during the trading session by N5 to close at N1,745/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s N1,740/$1.
In the cryptocurrency market, Ripple (XRP) was in the spotlight after its value rose by 14.9 per cent on Thursday to $0.8009 amid shifting US regulatory climate supported growth in tokens previously hampered by the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) actions.
Yesterday, the head of the US regulator, who could be removed by President-elect Donald Trump, reiterated his position on crypto policy and enforcement.
Crypto has been in an uptrend over the past week over expectations that a crypto-friendly Donald Trump administration could benefit tokens.
Further, Cardano (ADA) gained 2.8 per cent to trade at $0.5896, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 7.7 per cent to $0.3631, Ethereum (ETH) appreciated by 5.4 per cent to $3,053.53, and Solana (SOL) increased by 4.9 per cent to $207.86.
On the flip side, Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 2.5 per cent to close at $614.06, Bitcoin (BTC) depreciated by 2.4 per cent to $87,810.34, and Litecoin (LTC) crashed by 1.9 per cent to $80.55, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.
