Naira Appreciates to N1,451/$1 at Official Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira opened the week positive as it appreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, December 15 by N2.68 or 0.18 per cent to close at N1,451.82/$1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,454.50/$1.

The local currency also saw a positive movement against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday as it gained N2.17 to close at N1,943.98/£1 compared with last Friday’s N1,946.15/£1 and added 72 Kobo on the Euro to close at N1,705.74/€1 versus the previous session’s closing price of N1,706.46/€1.

At the GTBank FX counter, the Naira improved its value against the greenback by N3 to settle at N1,460/$1 versus N1,463/$1 but depreciated in the parallel market by N5 to sell for N1,475/$1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,470/$1.

The appreciation of the local currency in the other segments came even as foreign exchange inflows through the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market declined to $716.3 million from $844.7 million in the preceding week, according to a report by the Coronation Merchant Bank Research Department.

Also, foreign exchange market reforms continue to lead to positive outcomes with Nigeria recording expanding merchandise trade and a steady build-up of its trade surplus in the last six years.

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 14.45 per cent in November 2025, down from 16.05 per cent recorded in October, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.

The bureau stated that the figure represents a decrease of 1.6 percentage points month-on-month and marks a significant moderation compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market weakened as investors pulled back ahead of key US economic data extending losses as year-end caution builds.

Broader indicators suggest the market is entering a deeper corrective phase ahead of Tuesday’s November US jobs report, which is expected to show a cooling labour market.

Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 5.9 per cent to $2,941.92, Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 5.3 per cent to $1.89, Cardano (ADA) declined by 4.9 per cent to $0.3839, and Dogecoin (DOGE) dropped 4.8 per cent to $0.1299.

Further, Litecoin (LTC) went down by 1.9 per cent to $77.63, Solana (SOL) decreased by 3.7 per cent to $127.11, Bitcoin (BTC) lost 3.5 per cent to sell at $86,436.88, and Binance Coin (BNB) fell by 2.7 per cent to $863.78, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.