By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira pulled a 2.6 per cent or N39.33 appreciation against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, March 21, closing at N1,453.28/$1 versus the previous day’s N1,492.61/$1.
The positive outcome for the local currency came as the country recorded a massive boost in its external reserves after it paid off all verified FX obligations, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Nigeria’s external reserves hit an eight-month high as it increased by $993 million to $34.11 billion fuelled by increased remittance payments from Nigerians abroad and heightened interest from foreign investors in local assets, including government debt securities.
This has translated to confidence in the Nigerian FX market as the available liquidity means ease of supply.
The value of FX transactions recorded yesterday went up by 7.5 per cent or $20.18 million to $288.47 million from the $268.29 million transacted on Wednesday.
Also, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the British Pound Sterling by N192.49 in the official market during the session to trade at N1,792.89/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,985.38/1 and against the Euro, it jumped by N165.10 to sell at N1.531.44/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,696.54/€1.
In the parallel market, the Naira gained N20 against the greenback to settle at N1,490/$1 compared with Wednesday’s rate of N1,510/$1.
As for the cryptocurrency market, Ripple (XRP) led the gainers after its operators, Ripple Labs, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed in federal court to keep Ripple’s remedies-related discovery documents, such as detailed financial statements and post-complaint XRP institutional sales, sealed from public access.
A federal judge granted an order for the revised schedule and redaction in the remedies-related briefing.
XRP gained 6.3 per cent to sell at $0.6376 followed by Dogecoin (DOGE) which moved up by 5.9 per cent to $0.156, and Binance Coin (BNB) jumped by 5.6 per cent to $572.91.
Other gainers include Litecoin (LTC) which rose by 2.3 per cent to $85.78, Ethereum (ETH) saw its value go up by 1.5 per cent to $3,507.48, followed by Cardano (ADA) which made a 0.9 per cent appreciation to trade at $0.6335.
The largest loser was Solana (SOL) which made a 3.9 per cent depreciation to sell at $164.25 and Bitcoin (BTC) traded at $66,090.45 after a 0.05 drop.
The US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00.
