Naira Loses 2.2% at Official Market, Trades N1,339/$1

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira closed the final session of the week weaker against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) after it lost N2.2 per cent or N29.35 on Friday to trade at N1,339.23/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing value of N1.309.08/$1.

However, it improved its value against the British Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N202.13 to settle at N1,453.07/£1 compared with the preceding day’s rate of N1,655.20/£1, and against the Euro, it appreciated by N176.01 to trade at N1,247.03/€1 versus the N1,423.04/€1 it exchanged a day earlier.

Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange indicated that the value of FX trades at the spot market slightly went down by 2.9 per cent or $9.07 million to $309.01 million from the $318.08 million recorded in the previous trading day.

Business Post reports that the Nigerian currency had a good performance against its American counterpart in the black market on Friday after it gained N20 to sell at N1,400/$1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N1,420/$1.

In a related development, the cryptocurrency market was bearish yesterday, as most of the tokens monitored by this newspaper ended in the red territory on the back of a reaction to inflation data in the US showing few signs of letting up in March, with a key barometer the Federal Reserve watches closely showing that price pressures remain elevated.

The personal consumption expenditures price index, excluding food and energy, increased by 2.8 per cent from a year ago in March, the same as in February, the US Commerce Department reported Friday.

This pulled down Solana (SOL) by 5.9 per cent to $136.07, as Cardano (ADA) lost 3.7 per cent to trade at $0.4587, and Dogecoin (DOGE) recorded a 3.5 per cent depreciation to sell at $0.1458.

Ripple (XRP) dipped 3.0 per cent to trade at $0.5176, Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 2.9 per cent to $592.88, Bitcoin (BTC) recorded a 2.4 per cent loss to $62,920.33, and Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 1.1 per cent to $3,118.27.

But Litecoin (LTC) appreciated by 1.7 per cent to $87.01, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.