By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira opened in the first trading session of the week stronger, firming up by 0.2 per cent or N1.51 against the Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday.
At the close of trades, its value settled at N888.35/$1 compared with last Friday’s exchange rate of N889.86/$1.
The local currency was strengthened by an improvement in the supply of foreign exchange (FX) to the spot market during the session, easing pressure on it.
The value of forex bought and sold in the official market yesterday was $137.82 million, higher than the $41.66 million recorded in the previous trading session by 230.8 per cent or $96.16 million.
Also, in the black market, the domestic appreciated against the United States Dollar during the session by N5 to trade at N1,230/$1, in contrast to the preceding session’s value of N1,235/$1.
However, in the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segment of the FX market, the Nigerian currency weakened against the greenback yesterday by N1 to quote at N1,208/$1 compared with the previous trading day’s rate of N1,207/$1.
Meanwhile, the value of the Naira traded flat against the Pound Sterling and the Euro during the session at NAFEM at N1,096.23/£1 and N941.47/€1 apiece.
In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin (BTC) fell back to the $40,000 mark after slipping by 2.2 per cent to sell at $40,970.55 amid a surge in Ordinals minting resulting in a clogged blockchain network over the weekend.
Similarly, other large-cap alternative cryptocurrencies recorded substantial losses between 2 per cent and 5 per cent during trading hours.
Dogecoin (DOGE) shed 7.2 per cent to settle at $0.0881, Cardano (ADA) slumped by 6.5 per cent to trade at $0.5586, Litecoin (LTC) crashed by 5.5 per cent to $68.69, Solana (SOL) dropped 5.2 per cent to close at $68.86, Ripple (XRP) recorded a 4.9 per cent fall to quote at $0.5885, Ethereum (ETH) slid by 3.6 per cent to finish at $2,134.10, and Binance Coin (BNB) dipped by 2.4 per cent to $235.32, while the US Dollar Tether (USDt) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
Dipo Olowookere