Economy
Naira Strengthens to N1,522/$1 at NAFEM, N1,640/$1 at Black Market
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday amid a continued signal from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to support the market, with plans to clear all pending foreign exchange backlogs after the completion of a forensic audit on forex claims.
Also, the new FX code sets standards to strengthen and promote the integrity and effective functioning of the wholesale foreign exchange (FX) market in Nigeria holistically.
As a result, the value of the domestic currency improved against the greenback during the session by N10.95 or 0.71 per cent to sell for N1,522.68/$1, in contrast to Monday’s closing price of N1,533.63/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling at the official market on Tuesday by N17.07 to trade at N1,899.58/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,916.65/£1, and against the Euro, it gained N19.15 to sell for N1,593.04/€1 compared with the previous session’s N1,916.65/€1.
Equally, in the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira strengthened against the Dollar during the session by N10 to quote at N1,640/$1 compared with Monday’s closing price of N1,650/$1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was largely negative as traders continued to face the shivers of DeepSeek AI changing the operations of the industry.
The weekend release of the Chinese startup, which was cheaper, challenged US leadership in AI and technology.
Solana (SOL) slumped by 4.0 per cent to trade at $231.76, Ethereum (ETH) slid by 2.1 per cent to close at $3,142.18, Litecoin (LTC) fell by 2.0 per cent to $113.85, Dogecoin (DOGE) recorded a value depreciation of 1.7 per cent to sell at $0.3302, Cardano (ADA) went down by 1.5 per cent to $0.9447, Binance Coin (BNB) depreciated by 0.5 per cent to $678.20, Bitcoin (BTC) retreated by 0.4 per cent to close at $102,514.80, and Ripple (XRP) declined by 0.1 per cent to $3.11, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
