Naira Appreciates to N1,658/$1 at NAFEM

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, November 21, by 1.71 per cent or N9.89 to settle at N1,658.67/$1, in contrast to the preceding day’s N1,687.52/$1.

This strengthening of the value of the Nigerian Naira came despite a further decline in the supply of forex to the official market yesterday, with data showing that FX transactions went down by 5.56 per cent or $9.63 million to $163.66 million from the $173.29 million recorded in the previous trading session.

Also in the spot market, the domestic currency traded flat against the British Pound Sterling and the Euro yesterday at N2,139.86/£1 and N1,783.36/€1, respectively.

In the same vein, the local currency remained unchanged against the US Dollar in the parallel market on Thursday at N1,745/$1 and in the cryptocurrency market, there was euphoria as the chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Gary Gesler, who has been described as a “crypto foe” announced that he was stepping down when President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20.

Bitcoin (BTC), the most valued coin, aimed for the $100,000 mark as it hit $99,000 before correcting to $98,981.99 after a 1.2 per cent gain.

The biggest benefactor of the news was Ripple (XRP) as it zoomed by 24.5 per cent to $1.39 amid widespread belief of a shift toward a crypto-friendly regulatory environment for US-based companies.

XRP is closely related to Ripple Labs, a high-profile payments company targeted by the SEC in 2020 on allegations of selling the token as a security to U.S. investors. Ripple fully cleared a long-drawn court case in 2024.

Further, Cardano (ADA) rose by 12.5 per cent to trade at $0.8837, Solana (SOL) jumped by 8.8 per cent to settle at $262.40, Ethereum (ETH) added 8.5 per cent to close at $3,390.31, Litecoin (LTC) recorded a 4.8 per cent rise to quote at $90.83, Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 3.7 per cent to $634.07, and Dogecoin (DOGE) recorded a value appreciation of 2.4 per cent to sell at $0.3963, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 apiece.