Economy
Naira Appreciates to N1,596/$1 at NAFEM, N1,620/$1 at Black Market
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira improved its value against the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, May 14 by N3.26 or 0.20 per cent to settle at N1,596.75/$1, in contrast to the preceding day’s rate of N1,600.01/$1.
The renewed boost at the FX market came after the temporary US-China tariff reduction agreement and recent rally in oil prices, spurring the country’s external reserves to climb, standing above $38 billion amidst uncertainties in the global commodity market.
However, the local currency tumbled against the Pound Sterling in the official market at midweek by N7.09 to finish at N2,125.37/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N2,118.28/£1 and depreciated against the Euro by N6.52 to sell for N1,790.38/€1 versus Tuesday’s rate of N1,783.87/€1, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
As for the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against its American counterpart yesterday by N10 to quote at N1,620/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,630/$1.
A look at the cryptocurrency market showed that it tumbled on Wednesday due to profit-taking after the administration of President Donald Trump of the US and China hammered out a temporary suspension of their tariff disputes.
Also, the latest reading of Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed that prices rose at a slower pace than expected in April in the world’s largest economy.
Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 6.1 per cent to sell at $0.2293, Litecoin (LTC) recorded a 5.1 per cent fall to trade at $98.72, Cardano (ADA) declined by 4.9 per cent to $0.7861, Solana (SOL) slumped by 4.7 per cent to $173.89, Ripple (XRP) lost 3.3 per cent to finish at $2.50, Ethereum (ETH) slipped by 3.1 per cent to $2,578.90, Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 2.9 per cent to $649.08, and Bitcoin (BTC) depreciated by 1.1 per cent to $102,583.51, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 apiece.
