Naira Gains 30 Kobo Against Dollar at Official Market, Now N1,500/$1 at Black Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

A 0.02 per cent or 30 Kobo gain was recorded by the Naira against the Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Thursday, September 25, closing at N1,488.26/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,488.56/$1. 

In the same vein, the local currency appreciated further against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N8.15 to trade at N1,992.93/£1 versus the preceding day’s value of N2,001.08/£1, and improved against the Euro by N5.99 to close at N1,741.29/€1, in contrast to the N1,747.28/€1 it was quoted at midweek.

Similarly, the Nigerian currency gained N5 against the US Dollar in the black market yesterday to finish at N1,500/$1 compared with the N1,505/$1 it was exchanged on Wednesday.

Market participants see the Naira trading within a narrow range, helped by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) support in the wake of rising demand for the Dollar.

Remarkable rise in the country’s reserves which hit a peak of $43 billion this month is able to help buoy the Naira, whenever there is need for intervention from the apex bank. 

Rates are projected to remain stable next week trading at around N1,485/$1 to 1,490/$1 levels.

Meanwhile, the bears tightened their grip on the cryptocurrency market on Thursday as heavy selling from the institutional investor-sized cohorts (1,000 to 10 million) continues to overwhelm the spot purchasing seen among retail-investor-sized (100 to 1,000) orders. 

Binance Coin (BNB) depreciated by 5.7 per cent to $940.06, Solana (SOL) declined by 5.1 per cent to $195.18, Ripple (XRP) slipped by 3.9 per cent to $2.75, Dogecoin (DOGE) fell by 3.8 per cent to $0.2261, Cardano (ADA) went down by 3.2 per cent to $0.7725, Ethereum (ETH) crumbled by 2.5 per cent to $3,925.14, Bitcoin (BTC) shrank by 2.2 per cent to $109,311.44, and Litecoin (LTC) decreased by 1.6 per cent to $103.01, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) were flat at $1.00 each.