Naira Now N1,444/$1 at NAFEM, N1,454/$1 at GTBank, N1,465/$1 at Black Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira put up a better performance against the United States Dollar in the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday amid improvement in forex inflows into Nigeria.

Data obtained by Business Post indicated that value of the Nigerian currency improved against its American counterpart in the black market on Wednesday, October 29 by N10 to sell for N1.465/$1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N1,475/$1.

At GTBank, the domestic currency gained N8 against the US Dollar at midweek to settle at N1,454/$1, in contrast to the preceding day’s N1,462/$1.

In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) yesterday, the local currency appreciated against the greenback by N3.97 or 0.27 per cent to close at N1,444.35/$1 compared with the N1,448.32/$1 it ended a day earlier.

Equally, in the spot market, the Naira chalked up N10.36 against the Pound Sterling to finish at N1,919.09/£1 versus N1919.45/£1, and firmed up against the Euro by N4.26 to quote at N1,681.16/€1 versus the previous session’s N1,685.42/€1.

The Naira continued to strengthen as FX pressure continued to ease. Several factors have driven the gains, including Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, increased oil revenues, higher foreign reserves, and growing diaspora remittances.

Traders noted that ongoing reforms by the Nigerian government and effective information sharing among security agencies had helped trace proceeds of crime, contributing to Nigeria’s exit from the FATF grey list. This has also helped reduce speculative trading as the year nears a close.

“The sustained stability has reduced speculation. Speculators’ activities have been rendered ineffective in the market,” Mr Aminu Gwadabe, President of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), said as per the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

In the cryptocurrency market, mots tokens tracked depleted after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.75 per cent to 4.00 per cent.

Chairman of the Reserve, Mr Jerome Powell, was unexpectedly hawkish in his press conference, suggesting markets are way ahead of themselves in pricing in a December rate cut.

“A rate cut in December is far from a foregone conclusion,” said Mr Powell in his opening remarks, a comment that sent negative ripples across markets, including crypto.

Ethereum (ETH) dropped 3.8 per cent to sell at $3,868.66, Ripple (XRP) also lost 3.8 per cent to close at $2.51, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 3.6 per cent to $108,924.71, Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 3.2 per cent to $0.1878, and Cardano (ADA) shed 2.3 per cent to trade at $0.6288.

Further, Solana (SOL) went down by 1.3 per cent to $192.39, Binance Coin (BNB) slid by 0.7 per cent to $1,102.75, and Litecoin (LTC) slumped by 0.3 per cent to $96.69, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.