Naira Trades N1,652/$1 at Official FX Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The value of the Naira to the US Dollar depreciated by 0.12 per cent or N2.05 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, November 15.

Data indicated that the exchange rate was N1,652.25/$1 at the close of trading activities compared with the preceding day’s N1,650.20/$1.

In the same market segment, the local currency traded flat against the British Pound Sterling and the Euro yesterday at N2,100.54/£1 and N1,746.36/€1, respectively as forex transactions increased at the close of transactions.

Records from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the turnover went up by 38.1 per cent or $81.50 million to $296.63 million from the $214.73 million achieved a day earlier.

The market has faced pressure from a liquidity squeeze and a high seasonal demand, which has been worsened by the decision by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to slow its interventions in the FX market.

As for the black market segment, the domestic currency appreciated against the Dollar on Friday by N5 to trade at N1,740/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,745/$1.

In the cryptocurrency market, there were largely positive outcomes as Ripple (XRP) continued to surge ahead of other benchmarked currencies, growing by 21 per cent to $0.9722 in the past 24 hours to beat gains in Bitcoin (BTC) and majors, as the shifting US regulatory climate supported growth in tokens previously hampered by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) actions.

Cardano surged by 21.7 per cent to $0.7205, Litecoin (LTC) went up by 6.8 per cent to close at $87.40, and Solana (SOL) recorded a 4.6 per cent appreciation to sell at $219.62.

Further, BTC expanded by 3.7 per cent to trade at $91,166.47, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 2.9 per cent to finish at $0.3783, Ethereum (ETH) grew by 1.7 per cent to $3,106.99, and Binance Coin (BNB) added 0.9 per cent to settle at $623.12, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.