Naira Stable at Official Market, Crashes by N10 at Parallel Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira was relatively stable at the first trading session of the new year (January 1, 2025) at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) as it sold against the US Dollar at N1,538.23/$1.

At the final session of the past year, the Naira was exchanged with the US currency at N1,538.25/$1, indicating that the former shed a marginal 2 Kobo at the official market on Thursday.

In the spot market, the Nigerian currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling yesterday by N13.55 to wrap the session at N1,911.90/£1 compared with the preceding trading session’s N1,925.45/£1 and against the Euro, it improved its value by N5.96 to close at N1,589.45/€1, in contrast to Tuesday’s closing price of N1,595.41/€1.

A look at the parallel market showed that the domestic currency depreciated against the greenback during the session by N10 to sell for N1,655/$1 compared with the previous trading day’s N1,645/$1.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was largely positive as investors banked on support from US President-elect Donald Trump, who is due to return to the White House last this month, precisely on January 20.

Cardano (ADA) was the biggest gainer, which rose by 11.4 per cent to trade at $1.03, followed by Ripple (XRP) which added 3.9 per cent to sell at $2.44 as Dogecoin (DOGE) recorded a value appreciation of 3.2 per cent to sell at $0.3401.

Further, Solana (SOL) jumped by 2.5 per cent to trade at $209.31, Bitcoin (BTC) recorded a 1.4 per cent rise to finish at $96,608.50, Ethereum (ETH) expanded by 1.4 per cent to $3,446.06, and Binance Coin (BNB) increased by 0.3 per cent to $704.55.

However, Litecoin (LTC) declined by 0.4 per cent to close at $105.11, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.