Economy
Naira Crashes to N1,456/$1 at NAFEM, Remains N1,470/$1 at Parallel Market
By Adedapo Adesanya
The seasonal foreign exchange (FX) demand pressure further dealt a blow on the Naira in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, December 11, weakening its value against the US Dollar by 69 Kobo or 0.05 per cent to N1,456.07/$1 from the N1,455.38/$1 it ended a day earlier.
The Nigerian currency also performed poorly against the Pound Sterling and the Euro in the same market window during the trading session.
It lost N12.85 against the British currency to close at N1,950.11/£1 versus the preceding session’s N1,937.26/£1 and declined against the European nation’s currency by N13.60 to settle at N1,692.76/€1 compared with the previous day’s N1,706.36/€1.
At the GTBank forex counter, the domestic currency crashed against the US Dollar by N3 yesterday to sell at N1,463/$1 versus the N1,460/$1 it was exchanged a day earlier, and closed flat in the parallel market at N1,470/$1.
The local currency facing pressures defied the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) FX interventions amidst rising foreign payments, reflecting the absence of significant inflows from foreign investors, exporters and non-bank corporate players. This suggests that the FX market is trading at the band caused by seasonal pressures.
Yet, the Naira is expected to trade within a range, with increased Dollar sales by the central bank and steady remittance inflows offsetting seasonal demand for imports.
“All indicators point to range-bound trading for the week ahead, with the Naira likely within the range of between 1,445 and 1,460 to the dollar,” a trader told Reuters.
In the cryptocurrency market, benchmarked currencies appreciated as traders digested the Federal Reserve’s decision to trim its fed funds rate range by 25 basis points.
Solana (SOL) jumped by 6.0 per cent to $131.06, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 2.6 per cent to $83.45, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 2.4 per cent to close at $92,539.49, Binance Coin (BNB) also improved by 2.4 per cent to $892.03, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 1.6 per cent to $0.1408, Ethereum (ETH) rose by 1.6 per cent to $3,254.61, and Ripple (XRP) grew by 1.4 per cent to $2.03.
However, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 1.1 per cent to $0.4262, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
