Naira Slumps to N1,331/$1 at Official Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira fell further by N1.42 or 0.11 per cent against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, September 17, to trade at N1,331.28/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,329.86/$1.

However, the domestic currency strengthened against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N8.87 to close at N1,780.32/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,789.19/£1, and appreciated against the Euro by N4.75 to settle at N1,529.51/€1, in contrast to Wednesday’s closing rate of N1,534.26/€1.

The Nigerian Naira traded flat against the United States currency in the parallel market during the trading day at N1,370/$1, and at the GTBank forex counter, it remained unchanged at N1,336/$1.

A surge in US Dollar demand outpaced available market liquidity, putting further pressure on the Naira at the FX market on Thursday.

Despite increased interbank transactions among financial institutions acting as market makers, US Dollar turnover declined from the previous record level.

Interbank FX turnover fell by 5.8 per cent to $84.217 million, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), from $89.355 million recorded the previous day.

Amid fluctuations in FX liquidity at the NAFEM window and continued Naira depreciation, Nigeria’s external reserves edged higher, supported by accretion from key sources.

Gross external reserves rose to $54.668 billion as of September 16, up from $54.607 billion previously, strengthening the apex bank’s buffer to support the local currency.

As for the cryptocurrency market, the majority of benchmarked tokens were up as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points on Friday, lifting it to 1.25 per cent, the highest level in 31 years.

The move marks the central bank’s second hike in three months and comes weeks after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent publicly pressed Japan to tighten faster to support the Yen.

Early this week, the US Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 3.75 per cent -4.00 per cent, marking its first hike since 2023.

Cardano (ADA) gained 7.7 per cent to sell at $0.2133, Solana (SOL) grew by 5.7 per cent to $105.55, Binance Coin (BNB) added 3.9 per cent to sell at $754.73, Dogecoin (DOGE) also improved by 3.9 per cent to $0.0842, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 1.6 per cent to $1.32, Ethereum (ETH) expanded by 1.5 per cent to $2,486.31, Bitcoin (BTC) went up by 1.3 per cent to $77,564.14, and TRON (TRX) soared by 0.3 per cent to $0.3358, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.