High FX Demand Crash Naira to N1,561/$1 at Official Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira crashed against the US Dollar by 1.92 per cent or N29.70 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, July 10 amid high demand for the greenback.

The value of the local currency weakened during the session to N1,561.98/$1 compared with the N1,532.28/$1 it was exchanged a day earlier.

Over the past three days, there has been a consistent rise in FX turnover at the spot market, putting the Nigerian currency under intense pressure.

According to data obtained from FMDQ Securities Exchange, the value of forex trades jumped by 25.8 per cent or $48.51 million to $236.70 million from the preceding session’s $188.19 million.

Despite recent interventions from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the FX market, the local currency has been going through volatility since the middle of April, changing its fortune from being the world’s best currency in March.

Against the Pound Sterling in the official market, the domestic currency lost N30.16 at midweek to sell for N1,987..94/£1 versus Tuesday’s closing price of N1,957.78/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency depreciated by N23.4 to finish at N1,676.82/€1, in contrast to the preceding day’s N1,653.42/€1.

A look at the parallel market showed that the Naira fell against the US Dollar yesterday by N10 to quote at N1,550/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,540/$1.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was ravaged by profit-taking, with Solana (SOL) down by 3.2 per cent to sell at $140.57, and Bitcoin (BTC) down by 2.6 per cent to close at $57,779.94.

Further, Dogecoin’s (DOGE) depreciated by 2.1 per cent to $0.1076, Ethereum (ETH) went south by 1.2 per cent to $3,082.85, US Dollar Tether (USDT) lost 0.03 to sell at $0.9999, and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) was down by 0.02 per cent to $0.9999.

On the other hand, Litecoin (LTC) jumped by 1.9 per cent to $67.30, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 1.4 per cent to $0.3906, Binance Coin (BNB) grew by 0.3 per cent to $525.49, and Ripple (XRP) improved by 0.2 per cent to $0.4412.