By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira depreciated against the US Dollar by N91.01 or 5.84 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, September 12 to finish at a new low of N1,649.76/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,558.75/$1, according to data obtained from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.
This sharp decline in the value of the Nigerian currency came a day after it received a boost from the $900 million local dollar bond raise.
Analysts noted that the funds were raised to execute critical projects and development programmes that will bolster Nigeria’s economic growth rather than the FX market.
However, in the official market yesterday, the domestic currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling by N57.49 to settle at N2,067.96/£1 compared with the N2,125.45/£1 it traded at midweek and improved by N45.15 against the Euro to close at N1,748.85/€1, in contrast to Wednesday’s closing price of N1,794.00/€1.
In the parallel market, the local currency lost N5 against the Dollar on Thursday to quote at N1,660/$1 compared with the preceding day’s rate of N1,655/$1.
In the cryptocurrency market, Ripple (XRP) received a boost after a crypto fund manager, Grayscale, announced it is launching an XRP trust that could pave the way for a spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US. The coin gained 4.7 per cent to end at $0.5627.
As per reports, the closed-end fund will offer accredited investors direct exposure to XRP again since Grayscale previously offered an XRP Trust but dissolved it in 2021 following the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s 2020 lawsuit against Ripple Labs that alleged the XRP token is a security under federal securities law.
Ripple has since emerged victorious in the court case against the SEC, clearing the regulatory headwinds for the closely related XRP token.
Further, Solana (SOL) grew by 1.9 per cent to sell at $135.38, Cardano (ADA) rose by 1.5 per cent to $0.3536, Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 1.3 per cent to trade at $540.34, Litecoin (LTC) added 1.1 per cent to finish at $62.91, Bitcoin (BTC) recorded a 1.0 per cent appreciation to settle at $58,235.43, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 0.4 per cent to $0.1021, and Ethereum (ETH) grew by 0.3 per cent to $2,353.11, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
