Naira Down 0.25% to N1,438/$1 at Official Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

Foreign exchange (FX) demand pressure weakened the value of the Naira against the United States Dollar by 0.25 per cent or N3.64 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, November 5.

During the trading session, the exchange rate closed at N1,438.49/$1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N1,434.85/$1.

Equally, it depreciated against the Pound Sterling by 42 Kobo in the official market to settle at N1,873.78/£1 compared with Tuesday’s closing price of N1,873.36/£1 and lost N2.97 against the Euro to close at N1,651.39/€1 versus the preceding day’s N1,648.42/€1.

At the GTBank forex counter, the domestic currency depleted against the greenback yesterday by N3 to finish at N1,446/$1 versus N1,443/$1 but in the black market, it maintained stability at N1,450/$1.

The downward movement of the Naira was triggered by a decline in liquidity and a slight increase in demand for the Dollar as the year-end rush rears its head.

Despite the pressure on the Naira, Nigeria’s external reserves have continued to show steady growth, rising to $43.27 billion as of November 4, 2025, according to the latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In the cryptocurrency market, investor sentiment flipped amid forced liquidations and macroeconomic concerns as a US shutdown entered its fifth week.

Meanwhile, investors tapped on good news about Ripple (XRP) which is teaming up with Mastercard , WebBank and crypto exchange Gemini (GEMI) to test using its RLUSD stablecoin to settle fiat credit card transactions over a public blockchain. XRP rose by 3.7 per cent to $2.32.

Further, Ethereum (ETH) jumped 1.7 per cent to $3,388.93, Bitcoin (BTC) appreciated by 1.3 per cent to $103,325.74, Solana (SOL) grew by 1.2 per cent to $159.44, Binance Coin (BNB) expanded by 0.9 per cent to $953.70, Cardano (ADA) improved by 0.9 per cent to $0.5383, and Litecoin (LTC) soared by 0.5 per cent to $87.35.

However, Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 0.6 per cent to $0.1640, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.