Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira mounted a 3.3 per cent or N46.19 gain on the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, May 6 as it closed at N1,354.21/$1 compared with last Friday’s rate of N1,400.40/$1.
Also, the Naira value improved against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N66.56 to sell at N1,735.61/£1 versus the preceding session’s N1,802.17/£1 and against the Euro, it appreciated by N52.00 to quote at N1,489.15/€1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,541.15/€1.
The local currency was strengthened at the currency market during the trading session despite a significant decline in the value of foreign exchange (FX) transactions in the spot market.
Data showed that the turnover for the session stood at $84.83 million compared with the previous session’s $201.88 million, implying a decline in the forex trades by 30.8 per cent or $117.05 million.
Despite the gain on Monday, fundamentals show that recent pressure on the Naira has not eased with the supply issue facing the FX market rearing its head again.
This showed in the black market, where the Nigerian Naira weakened against the US Dollar by N25 on Monday to sell at N1,435/$1 compared with the preceding trading session’s rate of N1,410/$1.
Meanwhile, momentum dropped in the cryptocurrency market as a majority of the 10 benchmarked coins by Business Post closed in the negative territory, with Dogecoin (DOGE) down by 4.8 per cent to $0.1558.
In addition, Ethereum (ETH) went down by 3.9 per cent to $3,065.44, Cardano (ADA) slid by 3.4 per cent to trade at $0.4479, Litecoin (LTC) declined by 1.9 per cent to $80.30, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 1.3 per cent to trade at $63,547.19, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 1.2 per cent to sell for $587.77, and Ripple (XRP) recorded a 0.01 per cent loss to close at $0.5355.
But Solana (SOL) appreciated by 3.6 per cent to settle at $154.55, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
