Naira Loses 0.81% at Official FX Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira depreciated on the US Dollar by 0.81 per cent or N12.84 at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, August 20.

According to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange, the exchange rate of the local currency to its American counterpart yesterday was N1,592.06/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,579.22/$1.

Also, the domestic currency lost N26.41 against the Pound Sterling during the trading day in the official FX market to trade at N2,067.87/£1 compared with Monday’s closing price of N2,041.46/£1 and weakened against the Euro by N23.03 to finish at N1,762.43/€1 versus N1,739.40/€1.

The Nigerian currency performed badly on Tuesday amid a decline in the value of FX transactions in the spot market.

At the official market, the forex turnover stood at $152.26 million compared with the previous day’s $162.99 million, indicating a decrease of 6.6 per cent or $10.73 million.

However, the Naira maintained stability against the US dollar in the black market yesterday at N1,605/$1, according to data obtained by Business Post.

Cryptocurrencies were mixed during the session, with Cardano (ADA) up by 3.1 per cent to $0.345 after recent challenges as upcoming Chang Hardfork promised major upgrades.

Dogecoin (DOGE) recorded a 2.9 per cent rise to sell at $0.1037, Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 2.8 per cent to trade at $573.42, and Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 0.5 per cent to sell for $59,429.62.

On the flip side, Litecoin (LTC) made a 2.5 per cent fall to quote at $64.86, Ethereum (ETH) slid by 1.3 per cent to settle at $2,589.94, Solana (SOL) slumped by 0.5 per cent to $143.31, and Ripple (XRP) dropped 0.4 per cent in value to trade at $0.5964, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained flat at $1.00 apiece.