Enhanced Forex Liquidity Buoys Naira to N1,644/$1 at Official Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The value of the Naira rose against the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by 0.96 per cent or N15.97 to exchange at N1,644.86/$1 on Thursday, November 28 compared with the preceding day’s N1,660.83/$1 amid a surge in FX transactions.

Data showed that the forex turnover increased during the session by 66.2 per cent or $223.27 million to $560.34 million from the $337.07 million recorded at the midweek trading session.

However, the domestic currency weakened against the Pound Sterling in the official market by N8.42 to sell at N2,124.86/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N2,116.44/£1 but appreciated against the Euro by N10.18 to quote at N1,773.18/€1 versus midweek’s closing rate of N1,783.36/€1.

A look at the parallel market showed that the Nigerian currency traded flat against its American counterpart yesterday at N1,750/$1.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies were largely positive as Ripple (XRP) rose by nearly 6 per cent, precisely by 5.9 per cent to trade at $1.56to as Thanksgiving holiday saw the market avoid a feared historical massacre.

Traders said the Japanese Yen briefly crossed 150 against the Dollar due to expectations of a Bank of Japan (BOJ) rate increase in December, spurred by higher-than-expected inflation data.

The movement was also likely spurred by month-end financial adjustments and low liquidity due to Thanksgiving.

Further, Cardano (ADA) went up by 3.4 per cent to trade at $1.04, Solana (SOL) jumped by 1.1 per cent to quote at $241.14, Bitcoin (BTC) went up by 0.8 per cent to settle at $95,661.36 and Binance Coin (BNB) grew by 0.2 per cent to finish at $654.44.

On the flip side, profit-taking in Dogecoin (DOGE) saw its price down by 0.5 per cent to sell at $0.4054, Litecoin (LTC) depreciated by 0.5 per cent to quote at $96.36, and Ethereum (ETH) depleted by 0.4 per cent to end the session at $3,578.26, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.