Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira closed the midweek weaker against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonmous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), which is the official market, and the parallel market.
According to data obtained from the FMDQ Securities Exchange, the local currency declined against the greenback on Wednesday by 0.8 per cent or N12.56 to sell for N1,615.94/$1 versus Tuesday’s rate of N1,603.38/$1.
However, the Naira further gained against the Pound Sterling in the spot market by N31.04 to close at N2,036.06/£1 compared with the preceding day’s N2,067.10/£1 and against the Euro, it improved by N21.42 yesterday to settle at N1,740.54/€1, in contrast to the previous day’s N1,761.96/€1.
The value of FX trades in the official market on Wednesday soared by 103.18 per cent or $126.07 million to $248.25 million from the $122.18 million recorded a day earlier.
The domestic currency suffered a N5 loss against the US Dollar in the black market in the midweek session to trade at N1,607/$1 compared with the previous day’s price of N1,602/$1.
Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, the price of Binance Coin (BNB) has been on a run fuelled by gains in the broader crypto market, several rounds of token burn events, and growing activity in the BNB Chain ecosystem.
Interestingly, BNB has continued to rally despite Binance’s setbacks with regulators in the United States as well as in Nigeria.
Recall that the crypto exchange recently suspended its local services in Nigeria following a regulatory battle.
Two of its top executives remain in the custody of the Nigerian authorities. The duo – Mr Nadeem Anjarwalla, regional manager for Africa at Binance and Mr Tigran Gambaryan, head of Binance’s financial crime compliance – were detained after flying to Abuja to discuss the crackdown. In response, Binance has removed the Naira for trading from its website.
Yesterday, BNB recorded a 14.2 per cent appreciation to trade at $618.30, as it chases its all-time high of $686 recorded in 2021.
Solana (SOL) appreciated by 10.1 per cent to sell at $167.50, Dogecoin (DOGE) gained 8.2 per cent to trade at $0.187, Bitcoin (BTC) added 1.5 per cent to close at $73,387.26, and Cardano (ADA) recorded a 0.5 per cent increase to finish at $0.7574.
On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) declined by 2.2 per cent to $0.6814, Litecoin (LTC) dropped by 1.9 per cent to $96.05, and Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 1.6 per cent to $3,979.87, while the US Dollar Coin(USDC) and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) closed flat at $1.00, respectively.
