Naira Trades N1,500/$1 at Official Market, Now N1,497/$1

By Adedapo Adesanya

For the first time in a while, the exchange rate of the Naira to the US Dollar closed below the N1,500-mark in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX).

At the official market on Monday, September 15, the domestic currency was traded at N1,497.23/$1 compared with last Friday’s value of N1,501.87/$1, indicating an appreciation of N4.64 or 0.31 per cent against the greenback.

The continued appreciation of the Naira is supported by the availability of US Dollars from various sources, including banks, dealers, and forex hawkers on the streets, who are willing to part ways with the FX in their possession to stem losses that have come from recent appreciation.

However, the local currency weakened against the Pound Sterling in the spot market yesterday by N9.22 to close at N2,038.05/£1 versus the preceding session’s N2,028.83/£1, and lost N7.12 against the Euro to sell for N1,754.35/€1 versus N1,755.09/€1.

In the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira improved its value against the Dollar during the session by N10 to quote at N1,510/$1 compared with the previous session’s rate of N1,520/$1.

There are expectations that robust FX liquidity and an efficient forex market will see the local currency trade between N1,490 and N1,520 in coming weeks as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is expected to either retain interest rates or finally make a cut next week at its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting starting next Monday..

This is supported by Nigeria’s headline inflation rate easing for the fifth consecutive month to 20.12 per cent in August 2025 from 21.88 per cent in July 2025, according to the latest figures released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which showed that on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation stood at 0.74 per cent in August, reflecting a moderation compared to previous months.

In the cryptocurrency market, profit-taking dominated ahead of possible rate cuts.

This week, the much anticipated US Federal Reserve meeting will take place and traders universally expect the US central bank to trim its benchmark fed funds rate by 25 basis points to 4 per cent-4.25 per cent.

Cardano (ADA) slumped by 3.3 per cent to $0.8633, Dogecoin (DOGE) fell by 3.1 per cent to $0.2676, Ethereum (ETH) tumbled by 2.7 per cent to $4,521.07, Solana (SOL) declined by 2.5 per cent to $236.12, Litecoin (LTC) depreciated by 2.3 per cent to $114.84, Ripple (XRP) slipped by 1.8 per cent to $2.98, and Bitcoin (BTC) dropped 0.3 per cent to sell at $115,881.84.

On the flip side, Binance Coin (BNB) appreciated by 0.4 per cent to $931.24, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.