Naira Extends Loss at Official Market to N1,586/$1

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira slid for a second session against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, August 14 amid a fresh FX liquidity squeeze.

The exchange rate of the local currency to its American counterpart depreciated by 0.25 per cent or N3.95 in the official market to N1,586.04/$1 from the N1,582.09/$1 it closed in the preceding session.

The Naira’s back-to-back slide against the Dollar has been accompanied by a protracted decline in forex turnover despite recent injections from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The apex bank had promised to continue to supply the market with forex to relieve pressure on the domestic currency.

According to data obtained from the FMDQ Securities Exchange, the turnover for the midweek session was $92.39 million, lower than the preceding session’s $201.43 million by $109.04 million or 54.1 per cent.

The Naira also declined against the Pound Sterling in the spot by N11.65 yesterday to settle at N2,029.71/£1 versus N2,018.06/£1 of the previous day and depreciated against the Euro by N17.89 to sell for N1,742.48/€1 versus N1,724.39/€1 quoted in the preceding session.

In the parallel market, the Nigerian currency lost N5 against the greenback on Wednesday to quote at N1,600/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,595/$1.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market ended in red territory yesterday as traders shrugged off notionally good news on US inflation with the Bitcoin (BTC) price plunging below $59,000, shedding 4.3 per cent to $58,180.15.

In July, the US inflation rate fell to 2.9 per cent, marking the first time that inflation has been below 3.0 per cent since March 2021.

Ethereum (ETH) went south by 3.9 per cent to $2,623.94, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 3.2 per cent to sell at $0.1025, Ripple (XRP) dropped 2.3 per cent to $0.565, Solana (SOL) lost 2.2 per cent to finish at $141.71, Binance Coin (BNB) declined by 1.8 per cent to $517.82, and Cardano (ADA) dipped by 1.4 per cent to $0.3356.

However, Litecoin (LTC) jumped by 0.3 per cent to quote at $63.94, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.