Naira Falls 0.05% to N1,328/$1 at NAFEM

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira slid against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, September 23, by 71 Kobo or 0.05 per cent to N1,328.49/$1 from the previous session’s N1,327.78/$1.

However, it improved against the Pound Sterling in the same market segment by N11.39 to N1,762.92/£1 from N1,774.31/£1, and gained N6.48 against the Euro to close at N1,514.89/€1 versus N1,521.37/€1.

At the black market segment, the Naira traded flat at N1,370/$1 during the session, and also remained unchanged at N1,337.50/$1 at the GTBank FX desk.

Data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that interbank FX turnover jumped by 181.5 per cent to $99.170 million from $99.170 million, with the number of deals up to 183 deals from 130 deals on Tuesday.

The Governor of the CBN, Mr Yemi Cardoso, said Nigeria’s gross foreign exchange (FX) reserves have crossed $55 billion, describing the milestone as the highest in more than 18 years.

“We have been able to rebuild our reserves. And the whole conversation around rebuilding the reserves, we know that today — and it was mentioned in my communique — that we are in excess of $55 billion, the highest number in over 18 years,” he said after the monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja.

The apex bank governor said the improved reserve position, alongside improved FX liquidity and exchange-rate stability, has helped to strengthen Nigeria’s resilience.

In the cryptocurrency market, recent gains seen by benchmarked coins took a tumble as rising US Treasury yields increased pressure on nonyielding and leveraged assets.

Strong US business activity, higher oil prices and weak demand for five-year Treasury notes pushed yields higher ahead of Friday’s roughly $14 billion options expiration.

The biggest loser was Dogecoin (DOGE), which gave up 7.1 per cent to sell at $0.0942. Ripple (XRP) dropped 6.3 per cent to quote at $1.50, Cardano (ADA) shrank by 5.9 per cent to $0.2405, Bitcoin (BTC) slumped by 2.9 per cent to $83,975.52, and Solana (SOL) slipped by 2.8 per cent to $115.03.

Further, Ethereum (ETH) declined by 2.7 per cent to $2,682.64, Binance Coin (BNB) depreciated by 2.2 per cent to $772.99, and TRON (TRX) decreased by 0.1 per cent to $0.3433, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.