Naira Trades N1,355/$1 at Official Market, N1,390/$1 at Black Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira regained its strength against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, November 12, but lost its footing at the black market due to foreign exchange (FX) demand pressure.

Data obtained by Business Post showed that the Nigerian currency lost N15 against its American counterpart during the session to trade at N1,390/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,375/$1, and depreciated by N5 at the GTBank forex counter to quote at N1,365/$1 versus Wednesday’s N1,359/$1.

In the official market, the domestic currency, however, appreciated against the greenback yesterday by N2.46 or 0.18 per cent to close at N1,355.88/$1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,358.34/$1.

Equally, the local currency gained N10.47 against the Pound Sterling in the same market window to finish at N1,797.89/£1 versus midweek’s N1,808.36/£1, and chalked up N8.56 against the Euro to exchange at N1,503.13/€1 versus N1,511.69/€1.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervened in the market to ease pressure. Trading data revealed that interbank FX turnover surged 593.3 per cent to $644.845 million from $93.010 million the previous day. The number of deals also rose to 242 deals from 99 deals.

This comes as Nigeria’s foreign reserves fell below $55 billion amid sustained Dollar outflows, leaving the gross balance at $54.9 billion.

As for the cryptocurrency market, prices were down amid sell-offs as the Dollar Index held steady at 19-month highs.

The Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the greenback’s exchange rate against major fiat currencies, traded above 103, its highest since April 2025. The index has risen by nearly 2 per cent since early October on strengthening odds of US Federal Reserve rate hikes, a headwind for liquidity-sensitive risk assets.

The sell-off accelerated amid reports of renewed military escalation in the Middle East, including Iran’s claim that it destroyed a US early-warning radar in Bahrain.

Exchanges liquidated more than $1.3 billion in cryptocurrency futures positions over 24 hours.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell below the $70,000 mark after it gave up 6.9 per cent to sell at $68,601.69. Binance Coin (BNB) crashed by 6.7 per cent to $631.26, Ethereum (ETH) dipped by 6.2 per cent to $1,923.09, Dogecoin (DOGE) shrank by 5.9 per cent to $0.0632, and Solana (SOL) weakened by 5.6 per cent to $78.27.

Further, Ripple (XRP) dropped 3.9 per cent to close at $1.00, Cardano (ADA) tumbled by 3.1 per cent to $0.1673, and TRON (TRX) lost 2.0 per cent to end at $0.3106, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) were flat at $1.00 apiece.