Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira showed resilience against the US Dollar in the black market and the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Tuesday.
It appreciated against the greenback after the Easter break by 2.4 per cent or N30.81 in the official market to N1,278.00/$1 compared with last Thursday’s closing price of N1,309.39/$1.
Also, the Naira gained N110.00 against the Pound Sterling in the spot market yesterday to sell at N1,680.88/£1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,790.98/£1, and against the Euro, it was strengthened by N97.86 to close at N1,437.09/€1 versus N1,534.95/€1.
The value of forex transactions went down by 87 per cent or $746.60 million to $111.18 million from the $857.78 million recorded in the last trading session, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.
A look at the parallel market showed that the domestic currency improved against its American counterpart on Tuesday by N20 to quote at N1,250/$1 compared with the N1,270/$1 it was transacted on Monday.
Recent policy moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has continued to yield positive results with the market easing from an unprecedented high as the apex bank assured that more FX-focused policies that will trigger price discovery in the market will continue.
The leadership of the CBN, spearheaded by Governor Yemi Cardoso, has reiterated its position on several occasions to focus on its core objectives and reduce interventionist pursuits.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market recorded a largely weak outcome on Tuesday as the price of Ethereum (ETH) dropped after a decline in Bitcoin (BTC) sent a large part of the crypto market into the red zone.
ETH’s chances of seeing a significant price boost face uncertainty as the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) is yet to show any positive sign of approving applications for a spot Ethereum ETF.
As a result, much of its price movements in the past months have largely been due to its high correlation with Bitcoin rather than its fundamentals. The second most valuable coin slipped 2.5 per cent to $3,303.43.
Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated 2.4 per cent to sell at $0.1855, Ripple (XRP) slid by 2.3 per cent to trade at $0.5874, Cardano (ADA) fell by 1.8 per cent to $0.5893, BTC lost 0.9 per cent to quote at $66,239.89, and Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 0.6 per cent to $560.51.
However, Litecoin (LTC) surged by 3.1 per cent to $102.28, and Solana (SOL) jumped by 2.6 per cent to $190.12, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained intact at $1.00 each.
