By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira halted its recent weakening cycle against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, July 31.
The local currency gained N12.39 or 0.76 per cent on the greenback during the midweek session to close at N1,608.73/$1, in contrast to the preceding day’s N1,621.12/$1.
The appreciation coincided with a rise in FX turnover at the spot market by 62.8 per cent or $144.47 million to $236.70 million from the preceding session’s $166. million, as data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed.
However, the domestic currency depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by 66 Kobo to wrap the session at N2,069.11/£1 compared with the previous day’s N2,068.45/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency lost N6.61 to quote at N1,748.22/€1 versus Tuesday’s closing price of N1,741.61/€1.
In the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the US Dollar at midweek to settle at N1,605/$1 compared with the N1,610/$1 it was transacted in the preceding trading session.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market turned bearish on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate at 5.25 per cent to 5.5 per cent.
The US central bank cited continued economic expansion and moderating job gains. This delayed expected cuts which may come in September.
The biggest loser was Solana (SOL) as it made a 3.8 per cent depreciation to sell at $171.63, Cardano (ADA) saw its value fall by 2.9 per cent to $0.3892, and Bitcoin (BTC) dropped 2.2 per cent to close at $64,592.11.
In addition, Dogecoin’s (DOGE) value depreciated by 2.0 per cent to sell at $0.1224, Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 1.5 per cent to trade at $576.21, Litecoin (LTC) slumped by 1.9 per cent to finish at $70.44, Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 1.1 per cent to quote at $3,227.15, and Ripple (XRP) slid by 0.9 per cent to settle at $0.625, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.
