Naira Plunges to N1,656 Per Dollar at Official FX Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira depreciated by 7.12 per cent or N97.74 against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday to N1,656.49/$1 compared with last Friday’s N1,558.75/$1.

The official FX market was closed on Monday as a result of the public holiday declared by the federal government to celebrate Eid-el Maulud observed by Muslims.

Equally, the domestic currency weakened against the British Pound Sterling at the spot market yesterday by N112.66 to wrap the session at N2,180.62/£1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N2,067.96/£1 and against the Euro, it depreciated by N89.32 to settle at N1,838.17/€1, in contrast to the previous trading day’s N1,748.85/€1.

This occurred as forex supply dropped at the session, with the day’s turnover at $221.24 million compared with the $120.85 million achieved in the previous trading day, indicating a decline of 54.6 per cent or $120.85 million.

The value of the Nigerian currency, however, maintained stability against the greenback in the parallel market on Tuesday at N1,660/$1, according to data obtained by Business Post.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was majorly positive with investors and traders banking on the Federal Reserve’s potential interest rate cuts which is widely expected over the next several meetings and could catalyse economic recovery.

Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto rose on speculations that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) may opt for a 50-basis-point rate cut during its meeting on Wednesday.

BTC recorded a 3.9 per cent gain to trade at $60,279.59, Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 2.9 per cent to $545.94, Ethereum (ETH) added 2.4 per cent to close at $2,340.56, and Litecoin (LTC) recorded a 2.2 per cent appreciation to sell at $63.58.

Further, Dogecoin (DOGE) improved by 1.9 per cent to $0.1099, Cardano (ADA) rose by 1.7 per cent to $0.3335, Solana (SOL) jumped by 0.9 per cent to finish at $131.85, and Ripple (XRP) chalked up 0.6 per cent to quote at $0.5851, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat $1.00 each.