By Adedapo Adesanya
It was a bad day for the Naira in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, November 20 as it depreciated against the US Dollar by 0.51 per cent or NN8.59 to close at N1,687.52/$1, in contrast to the N1,678.93/$1 it was traded on Tuesday.
Similarly, the Nigerian currency weakened against the Pound Sterling in the official market at midweek by N20.98 to settle at N2,139.86/£1 compared with the preceding day’s N2,118.88/£1 and lost N10.00 against the Euro to quote at N1,783.36/€1 versus the previous session’s value of N1,773.36/€1.
The poor performance of the domestic currency occurred amid a slight improvement in the supply of forex to the spot market yesterday by $44.70 million or 34.8 per cent to $173.29 million from the $128.59 million achieved on Tuesday, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.
At the parallel market, the Naira suffered a decline of N5 against the greenback during the trading session to trade at N1,745/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,740/$1.
Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin (BTC) traded above $97,500 and has been projected to hit a landmark $100,000 figure that would push it above a $2 trillion market capitalisation. It gained 6.1 per cent yesterday to trade at $97,705.32.
The market continues to receive a boost from a pro-government stance from the incoming US presidency and a fresh round of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve that brought back risk appetite among traders.
The run is being colloquially termed a “Trump trade” among traders, with all asset classes from stocks to bond gaining since Donald Trump’s election win in the November 5 election.
Also, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 4.6 per cent to end at $1.12 as it continued to benefit from possible changes in the US Securities and Exchange Commission, a move that can finally settle the 2020 lawsuit against Ripple Labs that alleged the XRP token is a security under federal securities law.
Further, Solana (SOL) improved by 3.1 per cent to sell at $240.73, Litecoin (LTC) added 2.9 per cent to finish at $87.26, Ethereum (ETH) rose by 1.1 per cent to $3,136.01, Dogecoin (DOGE) increased by 0.8 per cent to $0.3886, Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 0.14 per cent to $612.61, and Cardano (ADA) expanded by 0.08 per cent to $0.1975, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00, respectively.