Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, January 10 by 0.7 per cent or N7.19 to N1,082.32/$1 from the N1,089.51/$1 it was exchanged in the preceding session.
However, in the same market segment, the domestic currency weakened against the British Pound Sterling by N132.42 to close at N1,219.32/£1 versus the previous day’s N1,086.90/£1 and crumbled against the Euro by N111.78 to sell at N1,048.31/€1 compared with Tuesday’s closing price of N936.52/€1.
Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that in the midweek session, the value of foreign exchange (FX) transactions surged by 148.9 per cent or $145.15 million to $242.60 million from the $97.45 million recorded in the previous day.
In the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) arm of the market, the local currency weakened against the greenback yesterday by N9 to sell at N1,239/$1 versus the preceding day’s value of N1,230/$1.
Similarly, the Nigerian currency lost N5 against the US Dollar on Wednesday in the black market to trade at N1,245/$1, in contrast to the N1,240/$1 it was exchanged a day earlier.
Renewed headwinds have replaced hopes that came from recent buffers provided to stabilise the market and the Naira is trading above the N1,000 mark at the official market.
FX supply issues in Nigeria are forcing companies to take on new approaches.
On Tuesday, Business Post reported that Cadbury Nigeria Plc was planning to convert FX loans from its parent firm, Cadbury Schweppes Overseas Limited, into equity to cut higher financing costs.
A look at the cryptocurrency market yesterday showed that the coins were majorly pointing south after the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved rule changes to allow the creation of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US.
This long-awaited move will give regular investors access to the controversial and volatile cryptocurrency.
The approval may prove to be a landmark event in the adoption of cryptocurrency by mainstream finance, as the ETF structure gives institutions and financial advisors a familiar and regulated way to buy exposure to BTC.
However, BTC was one of the losers as it lost 2.6 per cent to trade at $45,465.23, while Solana (SOL) depleted by 4.5 per cent to sell at $96.84, and Cardano (ADA) slid by 4.3 per cent to $0.5015.
Further, Binance Coin (BNB) recorded a 2.0 per cent loss to sell at $298.37, Ripple (XRP) fell by 1.4 per cent to $0.56, and Dogecoin (DOGE) declined by 1.2 per cent to $0.0784.
But Ethereum (ETH) improved by 3.4 per cent to sell at $2,373.92, and Litecoin (LTC) grew by 0.3 per cent to trade at $66.75, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
