Naira Trades N872.59/$1 at Official Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian Naira appreciated against the American Dollar by 1.5 per cent or N13.29 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, December 27 after a two-day break from the Christmas holidays.

The value of the country’s legal tender closed at N872.59/$1 in the official market segment compared with the previous trading session’s N885.88/$1 despite a jump in the value of foreign exchange (forex) transactions during the session.

The FMDQ Securities Exchange said the FX turnover for the day was $127.93 million compared with the $92.16 million, indicating a $80.77 million or 87.6 per cent jump.

Also, in the spot market, the local currency gained N176.58 against the Pound Sterling to trade at N1,324.80/£1 versus last Friday’s exchange rate of N1,148.22/£1 but against the Euro, it lost N153.46 to settle at N1,147.23/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N993.77/€1.

A look at the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) window of the market showed that the Naira weakened against the American currency in the midweek session by N30 to close at N1,187/$1 versus the previous session’s value of N1,157/$1.

In the parallel market, the domestic currency depreciated against the US Dollar yesterday by N15 to quote at N1,175/$1, in contrast to the preceding trading session’s rate of N1,160/$1.

In the cryptocurrency market, top coins surged as Nigeria finally lifted a ban on local banks and financial institutions serving crypto firms in a move that is likely to spur the use of cryptocurrencies in one of the world’s fastest adopters of digital assets.

The decision, announced last week, rescinds a 2021 directive against institutions facilitating cryptocurrency transactions.

The biggest gainer was Binance Coin (BNB) which jumped 9.2 per cent to sell for $322.51, Cardano (ADA) added 8.2 per cent to trade at $0.6482, and Ethereum (ETH) rose by 6.5 per cent to $2,372.24.

Further, Litecoin (LTC) went up by 3.6 per cent to $76.23, Ripple (XRP) recorded a 2.8 per cent rise to trade at $0.6371, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 2.5 per cent to $0.0936, and Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 1.3 per cent to $43,020.56.

However, Solana (SOL) lost 6.1 per cent to sell at $105.13, while the US Dollar Tether (USDt) and US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.