Naira Slips to N1,347/$1 at Official Market, Firms to N1,375 at Black Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The value of the Nigerian Naira moved in different directions against the United States Dollar at the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, November 5, after an almost $1 billion injection into the currency market by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week.

In the black market, the Naira gained N3 against the US Dollar to sell at midweek at N1,375/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,378/$1, but lost N2 at the GTBank forex counter to settle at N1,356/$1, in contrast to Tuesday’s rate of N1,354/$1.

It also weakened against the greenback by 86 Kobo or 0.06 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) to quote at N1,347.79/$1 versus the preceding session’s N1,346.93/$1.

The local currency further depreciated against the Pound Sterling at the official market during the session by N11.81 to end at N1,819.53/£1 compared with the previous rate of N1,807.72/£1, and crashed against the Euro by N8.66 to trade at N1,519.51/€1 versus N1,510.85/€1.

Data from the apex bank revealed that interbank forex turnover decreased by 15.2 per cent to $100.929 million on Wednesday from $118.957 million on Tuesday. The number of FX transactions also declined to 97 deals from 117 deals.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was in recovery mode yesterday as cryptocurrencies joined a broader market rebound after Democrats won both houses of Congress, amid hopes for an end to the Iran conflict and lower oil prices.

However, market analysts noted that the incoming Democratic majorities could complicate passage of cryptocurrency legislation and increase scrutiny of financial privacy and illicit finance.

Ethereum (ETH) gained 5.6 per cent to trade at $2,422.82, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 3.6 per cent to $0.1971, Bitcoin (BTC) grew by 3.2 per cent to $80,370.91, Solana (SOL) expanded by 3.1 per cent to $95.87, Ripple (XRP) jumped 2.6 per cent to $1.30, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 2.4 per cent to $0.0765, and Binance Coin (BNB) increased by 1.9 per cent to $712.66.

However, TRON (TRX) depreciated by 1.2 per cent to $0.3187, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.