Naira Further Shrinks to N1,332.97/$1 at NAFEM

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira fell further against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, October 13, by 88 Kobo or 0.07 per cent to trade at N1,332.97/$1, in contrast to the previous session’s N1,332.09/$1.

The domestic currency also depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N3.43 to close at N1,766.06/£1 compared with Monday’s closing rate of N1,762.63/£1, and lost N2.84 against the Euro to sell at N1,489.15/€1, in contrast to the preceding day’s N1,490.79/€1.

The local currency dropped N1 against the US Dollar at the GTBank forex counter during the session to quote at N1,339/$1 versus the previous day’s N1,338/$1, and at the parallel market, it traded flat at N1,360/$1.

FX update published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed that interbank FX turnover surged by 157.1 per cent to $93.163 million from $36.242 million.

Nigeria’s foreign reserves climbed to $55.1 billion on sustained hard-currency inflows from global sources, including remittances. Despite significant oil swap deals, the central bank last week revealed that net foreign reserves surged to $46 billion amidst rising private capital inflows.

Market analysts say the near-term outlook for foreign exchange inflows would depend on the resilience of foreign portfolio participation and a recovery in domestic sources of Dollar supply.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market slipped on Tuesday as New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said he saw no need for further rate hikes in 2027, which initially weakened the Dollar and lifted stocks across Asia.

Traders are awaiting Thursday’s US consumer price index report, with some expecting institutional investors to hedge their crypto holdings rather than reduce their exposure.

Cardano (ADA) declined by 1.8 per cent to $0.2346, Solana (SOL) dropped 1.0 per cent to sell at $107.11, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 0.8 per cent to $2,505.88, Ripple (XRP) slumped by 0.5 per cent to $1.36, Binance Coin (BNB) weakened by 0.3 per cent to $742.33, Dogecoin (DOGE) shrank by 0.3 per cent to $0.0845, and Bitcoin (BTC) crashed by 0.1 per cent to $83,498.71, while TRON (TRX) grew by 0.3 per cent to $0.3307, with the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remaining unchanged at $1.00 apiece.