Naira Appreciates 3.03% on Dollar at NAFEM

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated by 3.03 per cent or N48.19 against the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday to exchange at N1,543.84/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,592.06/$1.

This was boosted by the determination of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to address the FX liquidity squeeze in the market.

The Naira gained N19.29 against the Pound Sterling during the trading session to settle at N2,048.58/£1 compared with Tuesday’s closing price of N2,067.87/£1 and improved its value against the Euro by N15.52 to quote at N1,746.91/€1 versus N1,762.43/€1.

Data showed an increase in the supply of forex into the official market at midweek by 12.8 per cent or $19.53 million at the turnover was $171.79 million, in contrast to the $152.26 million recorded a day earlier.

However, the Naira weakened against the Dollar in the black market yesterday by N5 to trade at N1,610/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,605/$!.

As for the cryptocurrency landscape, digital coins closed bullish on Wednesday after the Minutes from the FOMC July meeting indicated that the Federal Reserve (Fed) is leaning toward cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in September.

Several participants agreed that the US had made progress in slowing down inflation, as it is currently moving toward the 2 per cent target.

Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 1.9 per cent to finish at $60,761.26, Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 1.8 per cent to trade at $572.13, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 1.4 per cent to settle at $0.3654, Ethereum (ETH) jumped by 0.8 per cent to quote at $2,625.06, Dogecoin (DOGE) also recorded a 0.8 per cent rise to sell at $0.1054, and Ripple (XRP) increased by 0.3 per cent to close at $0.6007.

On the flip side, Litecoin (LTC) went down by 0.9 per cent to $63.45, and Solana (SOL) slumped by 0.8 per cent to $142.36, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.