Naira Tumbles to N1,500$1 at NAFEM, N1,505/$1 at Parallel Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

A loss of 0.12 per cent or N1.73 was recorded by the Nigerian Naira against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, February 28.

In the official forex market, the domestic currency was exchanged with the greenback at N1,500.73/$1 during the session compared with the previous day’s rate of N1,499.00/$1.

However, the local currency appreciated against the British Pound Sterling yesterday by N17.78 to settle at N1,880.69/£1 versus Thursday’s closing value of N1,898.47/£1 and it gained N19.93 on the Euro to sell for N1,552.94/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,572.87/€1.

A look at the parallel market showed that the Nigerian Naira weakened against the Dollar yesterday by N5 to trade at N1,505/$1 compared with the N1,500/$1 it was transacted a day earlier.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was up on Friday, with analysts pointing out that historical data highlights the recent drawdown as a prime purchasing opportunity for many to stack up while others pointed out that the drawdown may not be over as developments in the political environment may impact sentiments.

During the trading day, Solana (SOL) chalked up 11.0 per cent to trade at $142.99, Dogecoin (DOGE) appreciated by 10.2 per cent to sell at $0.2044, and Litecoin (LTC) recorded an 8.9 per cent rise to trade at $126.43.

In addition, Ripple (XRP) gained 8.6 per cent to quote at $2.17, Cardano (ADA) added 7.9 per cent to finish at $0.6407, Bitcoin (BTC) improved its value by 7.3 per cent to $84,973.70, Ethereum (ETH) grew by 5.8 per cent to $2,234.20, and Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 4.8 per cent to settle at $595.50, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.