By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Naira gained N25.84 or 2.9 per cent against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 5 to close at N869.39 versus the rate of N895.23/$1 it was sold on Thursday.
However, it further maintained stability against the Pound Sterling and the Euro in the official market on the last trading session of the week at N1,115.11/£1 and N1,002.49/€1, respectively.
This happened as the market saw an improvement in the supply of foreign exchange (FX) to the space, with the turnover expanding by 97.9 per cent or $66.9 million to $135.39 million from the $68.49 million recorded a day earlier.
Also, the Naira posted a positive performance against the greenback in the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) window after it chalked up N8 to close at N1,218/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,226/$1.
However, the local currency lost N5 against the US Dollar in the black market yesterday to finish at N1,245/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,240/$1.
In the cryptocurrency market, stakeholders braced for the potential approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the impending decision by the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has ignited discussions, drawing a line between Bitcoin (BTC) as a speculative investment and a legitimate payment method.
The majority of the coins were, however, southward on Friday as investors took profit off the news, leaving BTC down by 0.1 per cent to sell at $43,665.12, as Ethereum (ETH) slid by 0.7 per cent to trade at $2,235.56.
In addition, Solana (SOL) recorded a 7.3 per cent loss to close at $94.08, Cardano (ADA) fell by 6.2 per cent to $0.5218, Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 4.5 per cent to sell for $304.82, Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 4.2 per cent to $0.0798, Litecoin (LTC) dropped 1.8 per cent to trade at $64.48, and Ripple (XRP) declined by 1.7 per cent to $0.5655, while the US Dollar Tether (USDt) and US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained flat at $1.00 each.
Dipo Olowookere 
Modupe Gbadeyanka