Naira Loses N2.33 at NAFEX to Trade N1,420 Per Dollar

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira opened the week heading south against the US Dollar on Monday, January 19 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) after it lost N2.33 or 0.16 per cent to sell for N1,420.28/$1 compared with the preceding trading day’s N1,417.95/$1.

Equally, the Nigerian Naira depleted against the Pound Sterling in the same market window during the session by N4.56 to close at N1,905.8/£1 compared with last Friday’s value of N1,901.32/£1 and depreciated against the Euro by N5.27 to quote at N1,652.78/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,647.51/€1.

But at the GTBank FX desk, the domestic currency appreciated against the greenback yesterday by N3 to sell at N1,424/$1, in contrast to last Friday’s price of N1,427/$1, and at the black market, it remained unchanged at N1,485/$1.

The weakening of the Nigerian currency in the official market on Monday was driven by relatively higher demand than the available supply as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) made no visible intervention.

Regardless, there are expectations that improved supply conditions from the apex bank will be readily available to keep the market within range supplemented by exporters’ and importers’ inflows in addition to non-bank corporate supply enhanced liquidity.

Nigeria has seen projections of a stronger economic or gross domestic product (GDP) growth and lower inflation in 2026, with these forecasts citing improved macroeconomic fundamentals and reform impacts.

The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) projected a single interest rate for the year, while it made further positive forecasts regarding the Nigerian economy.

Despite oil earnings fluctuations, Nigeria’s gross external reserves balance increased by $40.71 million to the previous day’s balance, bringing total reserves to $45.90 trillion.

In the cryptocurrency market, benchmarked tokens were largely down as renewed tariff threats between the US and Europe, tied to President Donald Trump’s comments on Greenland, have pushed investors back toward traditional safe havens. Gold and silver rallied, while cryptocurrencies underperformed.

Ethereum (ETH) declined by 2.3 per cent to $3,119.97, Bitcoin (BTC) slumped by 1.7 per cent to $90,940.76, Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 0.9 per cent to $915.39, Solana (SOL) dipped by 0.9 per cent to $131.81, Ripple (XRP) slipped by 0.2 per cent to $1.95, US Dollar Tether (USDT) slid by 0.1 per cent to $0.9990, and US Dollar Coin (USDC) lost 0.01 per cent to settle at $0.9997.

On the flip side, Cardano (ADA) jumped by 1.5 per cent to $0.3666, Litecoin (LTC) appreciated by 0.3 per cent to $70.17, and Dogecoin (DOGE) went up by 0.2 per cent to $0.1269.