Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the official foreign exchange (FX) market, the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEM), on Monday, January 15.
Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange revealed that the Nigerian currency bolstered its value against the Dollar yesterday by 5.8 per cent or N51.50 to sell at N838.95/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N890.45/$1.
It was a similar situation in the official market for the Pound Sterling, which gained N18.16 during the session to quote at N1,086.59/£1 compared with last Friday’s rate of N1,104.75/£1 and improved against the Euro by N14.16 to settle at N934.79/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N948.95/€1.
The local currency performed better in the spot market yesterday despite the flow of forex shrinking by 69.3 per cent or $59.53 million to $26.32 million from $85.85 million.
The respite for the Naira came as the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) successfully arranged a large part of a syndicated $3.3 billion crude oil prepayment facility to Nigeria.
Nigeria has received an initial disbursement of $2.25 billion with a second tranche of $1.05 billion expected to be disbursed subsequently.
The injection is expected to provide succour for the Nigerian FX market which is facing supply woes making it hard to clear backlogs and forwards to several parties including investors, companies, and airlines.
However, in the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segment, the domestic currency weakened against the greenback on Monday by N25 to trade at N1,284/$1 versus the previous trading day’s rate of N1,259/$1.
In the same vein, the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar in the black market yesterday by N15 to sell for N1,280/$1, in contrast to the preceding trading session’s exchange rate of N1,265/$1.
In the cryptocurrency market, Solana (SOL) recorded a 5.7 per cent jump to trade at $99.13, spurred by growing interest in the potential that its network has to offer.
Crypto analysts say it is likely more users from Ethereum and other networks are likely to migrate to the Solana network as more projects get built on it.
Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 1.6 per cent to trade at $0.584, Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 1.1 per cent to $305.63, and Dogecoin (DOGE) increased its value by 0.9 per cent to sell at $0.0816.
But Ethereum (ETH) slid 1.5 per cent to $2,530.14, Litecoin (LTC) depleted by 0.7 per cent to $71.38, Bitcoin (BTC) declined by 0.1 per cent to $42,880.46, and Cardano (ADA) shed 0.1 per cent to finish at $0.545, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 apiece.
