Naira Edges Higher by 0.18% at Official Market as Cardano, Ripple Rise

By Adedapo Adesanya

The local currency, the Naira, was strengthened against the United States Dollar at the official market on Tuesday, appreciating by 0.18 per cent or 75 kobo at the close of business.

According to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange, the domestic currency was sold for N419.50/$1 at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (forex( market yesterday compared with the N420.25/$1 it traded on Monday.

It gained more weight yesterday after witnessing ease in the FX demand pressure amid a shortage of forex in the system caused by political activities in the country ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Forex trades at the market window on Tuesday, Business Post learned, depreciated by 19.8 per cent or $24.39 million to $98.52 million from the previous day’s $122.91 million.

The good performance of the Naira also reached the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segment of the market yesterday as it appreciated against the American currency by N8 or 1.30 per cent to settle at N608.00/$1 compared with the preceding session’s exchange rate of N616.00/$1.

Also, at the interbank window, the local currency closed stronger against the Pound Sterling by N2.40 to trade at N523.05/£1 compared to the previously traded rate of N525.45/£1 and on the Euro, the Naira gained N2.58 to close at 444.99/€1 in contrast to Monday’s N447.57/€1.

Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, the bears reared their heads again and caused TerraClassicUSD (USTC) to further deplete by 17.4 per cent to $0.0211 as Solana (SOL) depreciated by 4.0 per cent to $45.62.

Further, Ethereum (ETH) went down by 1.1 per cent to $1,949.90, Dogecoin (DOGE) fell by 0.9 per cent to trade at $0.0863, Litecoin (LTC) lost 0.8 per cent to quote at $68.35, Binance Coin (BNB) recorded a 0.5 per cent retreat to trade at $319.55, while Bitcoin (BTC) declined by 0.03 per cent to $31,750.30.

But Cardano (ADA) ballooned by 8.0 per cent to sell at $0.6027, Ripple (XRP) recorded a 1.8 per cent rise to trade at $0.4192, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) closed flat at $0.9994.