Naira Loses 0.06% at Official Market as Labour Suspends Strike

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira made a marginal 0.06 per cent or 83 Kobo loss against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, June 4 as the organised labour in the country called off a strike that paralysed the markets and economic productivity.

The local currency weakened to to N1,476.95/$1 during the trading session from the N1,476.12/$1 it was exchanged a day earlier in the official market.

It also suffered a N1.97 decline against the Pound Sterling in the spot market yesterday to sell for N1,879.89/£1 compared with Monday’s closing price of N1,877.92/£1.

However, the Nigerian currency appreciated against the Euro at NAFEM on Tuesday by N8.74 to quote at N1,604.70/€1, in contrast to the previous day’s value of N1,613.44/€1.

Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the value of FX transactions during the session significantly increased by 94.5 per cent or $115.12 million to $236.99 million from the $121.87 million executed at the last session.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have suspended their industrial action – over a lack of consensus on a new minimum wage and the hike in electricity tariff – for another week, adding that if there was no resolution, the strike would recommence.

On Monday, both unions stopped working to protest. Schools, companies, hospitals, and airports were closed because of the action, which slowed down important parts of the economy. The national grid was also turned off, which left the whole country in the dark.

Looking at the black market segment of the forex market on Tuesday, the Naira maintained stability against the greenback as it remained unchanged at N1,500/$1.

The digital currency market was bullish yesterday, with Binance Coin (BNB) gaining 8.8 per cent to trade at $679.69, and Solana (SOL) grew its value by 3.2 per cent to close at $172.27.

Further, Bitcoin (BTC) added 2.6 per cent to settle at $70,678.20, Dogecoin (DOGE) went up by 1.8 per cent to sell at $0.1609, Ethereum (ETH) rose by 1.4 per cent to $3,815.52, Ripple (XRP) advanced by 0.9 per cent to $0.5253, Litecoin (LTC) expanded by 0.7 per cent to $83.38, and Cardano (ADA) moved up by 0.5 per cent to $0.4615, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.