Naira Appreciates 0.61% at NAFEM as Crypto Recovers

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar by 0.61 per cent or N9.93 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Monday, August 5, selling at N1,607.15/$1 compared with last Friday’s closing price of N1,617.08/$1, according to data obtained from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.

This happened despite low forex supply in the market, evidenced by a turnover of $77.09 million during the trading session, 41.4 per cent or $54.46 million lower than the $131.55 million recorded in the preceding trading day.

However, the local currency depreciated against the Pound Sterling yesterday by N24.84 to sell for N2,076.34/£1, in contrast to last Friday’s closing value of N2,051.50/£1 and weakened against the Euro by N34.26 to quote at N1,764.15/€1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,729.89/€1.

A look at the black market showed that the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the greenback during the trading day at N1,605/$1.

Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, there were recoveries after a wider market rout impacted coins in early trading on Monday.

The US economic fears spread the market rout beyond stocks into crypto, leading to about $1.2 billion in liquidations over 24 hours.

The price fall, which commenced over the weekend, dramatically increased yesterday following big falls on the Nikkei and the Japanese yen carry trade unwound, with Bitcoin briefly falling under $50,000 near the start of US trading hours.

But at the close of business, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 9.8 per cent to trade at $55,939.20, Solana (SOL) grew by 21.9 per cent to sell at $142.51, Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 17.1 per cent to quote at $489.59, Dogecoin (DOGE) appreciated by 16.9 per cent to $0.1, and Cardano (ADA) improved its value by 15.5 per cent to $0.332.

Further, Ripple (XRP) which increased by 13.6 per cent to $0.5166, Ethereum (ETH) jumped by 12.9 per cent to settle at $2,528.64, and Litecoin (LTC) added 12.2 per cent to close at $65.77, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged to trade at $1.00 apiece.