Naira Trades N1,507/$1 at Official Market, N1,500/$1 at Parallel Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira continued its weakening cycle against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, June 26 as it fell by 0.47 per cent or N7.04 to settle at N1,507.83/$1, in contrast to the preceding day’s N1,500.79/$1, according to data obtained from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.

Equally, the Nigerian Naira witnessed a drop against the Pound Sterling in the spot market by N11.09 to sell for N1,901.95/£1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,890.86/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency weakened by N15.89 to finish at N1,605.67/€1 versus Tuesday’s closing price of N1,589.78/€1.

This happened after the value of FX transactions significantly increased yesterday by 48.8 per cent or $80.36 million to $176.39 million from the $136.75 million recorded in the preceding trading session.

But in the parallel market, the local currency maintained stability against the United States currency on Wednesday at N1,505/$1.

The recent decline in the value of the Naira coincides with remarks made by Mr Yemi Cardoso, the head of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), indicating that the bank is making every effort to calm the market, as shown by the $24 billion in inflow during the first quarter of 2024.

He expressed optimism in the CBN’s multi-pronged approach to stabilizing the Naira, noting that before the recent interventions, speculation and manipulation in the FX forward contract market were contributing to the volatility of the local currency.

As for the digital currency, it suffered a loss as the benchmarked tokens tracked by Business Post finished in the red territory, with Dogecoin (DOGE) down by 3.7 per cent to sell at $0.1207.

Further, Cardano (ADA) slid by 2.5 per cent to $0.379, Binance Coin (BNB) fell by 1.5 per cent to trade at $567.31, Bitcoin (BTC) dipped by 1.4 per cent to $60,637.78, Ripple (XRP) slumped by 1.4 per cent to $0.4665, Solana (SOL) recorded a 1.0 per cent decline to close at $135.34, Litecoin (LTC) moderated by 0.6 per cent to $70.68, Ethereum (ETH) lost 0.6 per cent to quote at $3,367.82, and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) shrank by 0.02 per cent to $0.9998, while the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00.