By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated by 6.1 per cent or N96.00 against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Monday, July 22, closing at N1,500.00/$1 compared with Friday’s closing rate of N1,596.92/$1 as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) injected FX into the market.
The central bank supplied forex to the authorised dealers and the Bureau De Change (BDC) operators over the weekend to boost liquidity and strengthen the local currency.
Last Friday, the CBN said it sold $106.5 million to authorised dealers over two days to stabilise the Naira. The transactions occurred on Thursday, July 18, and Friday, July 19, 2024.
The CBN revealed that recent fluctuations in the forex market were largely driven by increased demand from corporate entities and the expected seasonal surge during the summer.
It also said it would continue providing liquidity support to various segments of the official markets over the next couple of weeks, bolstering the market.
At the spot market yesterday, the value of FX transactions slightly went up by 7.7 per cent or $19.21 million to $269.88 million from $250.67 million.
Also, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market by N66.43 on Monday to sell at N1,982.34/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N2.048.77/£1 and against the Euro, it scaled up N56 to quote at N1,669.91/€1 versus last Friday’s rate of N1,725.91/€1.
In the same vein, the Naira gained N10 against the greenback in the parallel market on Monday to quote at N1,570/$1 compared with the previous trading day’s N1,580/$1.
In the cryptocurrency market, there was a largely negative outcome even as increased transactional activity and booming expectations of a possible exchange-traded fund (ETF) product have contributed to Solana’s recent outperformance, losing 3.3 per cent to trade at $178.42.
Litecoin (LTC) went down by 3.1 per cent to $71.27, Cardano (ADA) also lost 3.1 per cent to trade at $0.4268, Ethereum (ETH) fell by 2.4 per cent to $3,442.82, Binance Coin (BNB) dropped 1.8 per cent to close at $590.68, Dogecoin (DOGE) slumped by 1.7 per cent to $0.1377, and Bitcoin (BTC) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to $67,413.80.
However, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 1.4 per cent, settling at $0.6043, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.