Naira Weakens to N1,498/$1 at NAFEM, Firms to N1,605/$1 at Parallel Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

It was another bad day for the local currency in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, February 4, as its value further weakened by 0.22 per cent or N3.35 to settle at N1,498.95/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,495.60/$1.

Also, the domestic currency slumped against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market yesterday by N35.77 to sell for N1,868.17/£1 versus Monday’s exchange rate of N1,832.40/£1 and against the Euro, it slumped by N21.38 to trade at N1,553.41/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,532.03/€1.

The pressure on the Naira in the spot market during the trading session remained as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) extended the access of Bureau De Change (BDC) operators to the official trading platform until May 30, 2025.

As for the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the greenback yesterday by N5 to quote at N1,605/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,610/$1.

In the cryptocurrency market, it was bearish, coinciding with a crypto-related press conference held by White House crypto and AI czar, Mr David Sacks, alongside the heads of key committees in the Senate and House.

Hopes that the press conference would center on the chances of a strategic bitcoin reserve were dashed as the discussion centered almost exclusively on regulatory matters and platitudes.

Mr Sacks said that a White House working group on crypto is looking into the feasibility of a strategic bitcoin reserve.

Ripple (XRP) lost 3.3 per cent to trade at $2.50, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 1.8 per cent to sell at $97,764.23, Cardano slumped by 1.4 per cent to settle at $0.7346, Binance Coin (BNB) depreciated by 1.3 per cent to $574.37, Solana (SOL) went down by 0.6 per cent to $205.17, Dogecoin (DOGE) slumped by 0.4 per cent to $0.2644, and Litecoin (LTC) declined by 0.1 per cent to $101.87.

However, Ethereum (ETH) improved its value by 0.7 per cent to $2,741.78, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.