By Adedapo Adesanya
The value of the Naira rose by 0.2 per cent or N2.27 on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday after days of consistent weakening.
Data obtained by Business Post from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the official market exchange rate finished at N1,400.40/$1, in contrast to the preceding day’s value of N1,402.67/$1.
However, the Nigerian currency depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the spot market yesterday by N135.16 to settle at N1,802.17/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,667.01/£1 and against the Euro, it lost N115.44 to trade at N1,541.15/€1 versus N1,425.71/€1.
The value of FX transactions at NAFEM during the session decreased by 13.3 per cent or $30.96 million to $201.88 million from $232.84 million.
At the parallel market yesterday, the domestic currency recorded a loss of N20 against the US Dollar, as it quoted at N1,410/$1 compared with the N1,390/$1 it was traded a day earlier.
Market analysts have pointed out that recent policy moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that yielded positive results have begun to lose momentum.
Minutes of the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the CBN showed that the committee, spearheaded by the CBN Governor, Mr Yemi Cardoso, has reiterated its position on several occasions to focus on its core objectives.
Ms Emem Usoro, a member of the MPC, urged fiscal authorities to collaborate closely with monetary policymakers to address inflationary pressures.
This includes implementing measures to tackle structural factors to complement monetary efforts in anchoring inflation expectations and promoting overall price stability in the economy.
“From the foregoing, it is obvious that the continuous rise in inflation is detrimental to the broad recovery of the economy,” she argued.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies surged on Friday as Bitcoin (BTC) grew by over 6 per cent to near $63,000 following a cooler-than-expected April job report in the US that eased concerns about higher interest rates while Ethereum (ETH) reclaimed the $3,000 level following a 4 per cent rise.
The rally happened as the US economy added 175,000 jobs in April, less than the analyst consensus of 245,000 and the previous month’s 315,000, according to the government’s Nonfarm Payrolls report. It also showed the unemployment rate inching higher to 3.9 per cent from 3.8 per cent in March.
Dogecoin (DOGE) gained 13.3 per cent during the day to sell at $0.1508, Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 3.9 per cent to $585.35, Solana (SOL) jumped by 3.8 per cent to $144.29, Cardano (ADA) increased by 3.0 per cent to $0.4663, Litecoin (LTC) expanded by 2.4 per cent to $81.83, and Ripple (XRP) increased by 1.7 per cent to $0.5294, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.