Naira Recovers 0.7% at Official Market as Crypto Gains

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira halted its weakening cycle against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, July 5, as it appreciated by 0.7 per cent or N10.57 to sell at N1,509.67/$1 compared with Thursday’s closing price of N1,520.24/$1. 

According to data obtained from the FMDQ Securities Exchange, the value of forex trades in the official market yesterday shrank by 32.6 per cent or $56.63 million to $116.88 million from the $173.51 million quoted in the preceding trading session.

However, this did not put pressure on the local currency during the trading session, though it affected its value against the Pound Sterling in the spot market amid a change of government in the United Kingdom.

The Nigerian currency suffered a loss of N17.90 against the British currency to sell for N1,935.24/£1 versus the previous day’s N1,917.34/£1 and against the Euro, it maintained the same trend as it fell by N14.41 to quote at N1,638.75/€1.

But in the black market, the Naira declined against the Dollar on Friday by N5 to settle at N1,525/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,520/$1.

As for the digital currency market, it recovered a few of the losses it posted in the past few days, especially after falling to its lowest in over four months amid weak market conditions.

The news that the Mt. Gox trustee had begun paying certain creditors was pointed as the cause of the bearish outcome at the market to its lowest level in more than four months during the previous day.

Dogecoin (DOGE) appreciated by 13.2 per cent to sell at $0.1080, Solana (SOL) recorded an 8.9 per cent growth to trade at $136.31, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 7.6 per cent to quote at $0.4318, and Cardano (ADA) improved by 7.4 per cent to $0.3529.

Further, Binance Coin (BNB) moved up by 7.2 per cent to $505.94, Litecoin (LTC) added 6.5 per cent to sell for $62.35, Ethereum (ETH) added 4.9 per cent to finish at $2,989.70, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 4.7 per cent to end at $56,538.70, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.