Naira Firms to N1,595/$1 at NAFEX, Weakens to N1,500/$1 at Black Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira ended a tumultuous February as it recorded a price appreciation f 0.09 per cent or N14.40 against the US Dollar on Thursday, February 29, in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).

Data obtained from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the value of the local currency closed at N1,595.11/$1 during the session compared with the preceding day’s N1,609.51/$1.

Also, the Nigerian currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N20.34 to close at N2,046.19/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N2,066.53/£1 and strengthened against the Euro by N16.5 to trade at N1,751.64/€1, in contrast to Wednesday’s closing price of N1,767.79/€1.

The gains were recorded as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) flooded the foreign exchange (FX) market with more supply. The value of forex transactions increased by 82.3 per cent or $98.00 million to $217.14 million from $119.14 million.

As major exchanges suspended Peer-to-Peer (P2P) trading following a clampdown by the Nigerian government, traders continued to wait on the sidelines to gauge the next step.

However, the parallel market remained active as the domestic currency depreciated against the US Dollar by N50 to sell at N1,500/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,450/$1.

Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, Solana’s (SOL) hit new yearly highs amid a wider crypto rally, with activity on the blockchain spurred by a scramble to buy up the Dogwifhat (WIF) meme-coin.

In the last 24 hours, SOL has posted a 7.4 per cent gain, rising to reach a new yearly high of $124.67 at the time of publication.

Litecoin (LTC) jumped by 6.8 per cent to $79.21, Cardano (ADA) went up by 3.8 per cent to $0.6528, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 1.9 per cent to $0.5849, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 1.2 per cent to sell at $0.1171, and Bitcoin (BTC) was up by 0.2 per cent to $61,223.38.

On the other hand, Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 3.3 per cent to trade at $397.50, and Ethereum (ETH) dropped 0.5 per cent to $3,318.54, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00.