Naira Gains at Official, Parallel Markets Amid Forex Liquidity Boost

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira recorded its first relative gain against the Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) this week on Friday, March 28.

The domestic currency appreciated against the greenback by 65 Kobo or 0.04 per cent during the session to settle at N1,538.26/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s exchange rate of N1,538.91/$1 as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) boosted forex liquidity to stabilize the market.

Over the last few sessions, the local currency had depreciated due to FX liquidity squeeze in the absence of interventions from the central bank.

So far, interventions in the market this month have neared $1 billion in a bid to strengthen the Nigerian currency.

However, the Naira lost against the British Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N1.00 to sell for N1,991.87/£1 versus the previous day’s N1,990.87/£1 and against the Euro, it declined by N1.40 to quote at N1,660.99/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s value of N1,659.59/€1.

At the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira gained N5 against the US Dollar yesterday to close at N1,555/$1 compared with the preceding trading day’s value of N1,560/$1.

As for the cryptocurrency market, it was down on Friday amid a sell-off in US stocks due to poor economic data, with crypto-focused stocks also suffering heavy losses.

Continued macroeconomic woes weighed on the broader crypto market with the implementation of broad-scale US tariffs next week on April 2 by the administration of Mr Donald Trump, which compounded investor concerns across markets.

Ripple (XRP) lost 5.3 per cent to finish at $2.13, Solana (SOL) slumped by 4.8 per cent to trade at $126.89, Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped by 4.4 per cent to sell at $0.1755, and Binance Coin (BNB) depreciated by 4.2 per cent to $606.31.

Further, Litecoin (LTC) dropped 3.1 per cent to close at $86.21, Cardano (ADA) went down by 2.9 per cent to settle at $0.6869, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 2.5 per cent to $83,699.86, and Ethereum (ETH) slid by 2.2 per cent to $1,877.62, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.