By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further depreciated against the United States Dollar by 0.50 per cent or N7.63 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, July 4.
Data showed that the Naira-Dollar exchange rate closed in the official market yesterday at N1,520.24/$1, in contrast to the N1,512.61/$1 it traded a day earlier.
This happened despite an improvement in the value of forex transactions in the spot supported by enhanced FX supply.
The value of trades recorded during the session stood at $173.51 million compared with the $114.91 million achieved in the preceding trading day, implying an increase of 50.9 per cent or $58.6 million, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.
However, the domestic currency maintained stability against the Pound Sterling and the Euro in the official market yesterday at N1,917.34/£1 and N1,624.34/€1, respectively.
It was a similar scenario in the parallel market where the Nigerian currency closed flat against the Dollar at N1,520/$1.
In June, market experts from Fitch Ratings observed that although the Naira has been experiencing volatility since it was floated in June 2023, there are anticipations that the fluctuation would decrease by the third quarter (Q3) of 2024.
Devaluation, insufficient Dollar liquidity, and market volatility have halted the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) efforts to boost the Nigerian currency.
In the cryptocurrency market, the bears tightened their grip on the space, resulting in panic selling by investors ahead of Mt. Gox’s $10 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) and BCH repayment starting this week. Analysts have warned about market shake-up on concerns of potential selloff by creditors.
Crypto liquidations over the past 24 hours include $510 million in long bets and over $80 million in shorts, with long BTC positions making up $193.19 million of the total.
Cardano (ADA) was the biggest loser as it lost 18.4 per cent to trade at $0.3234, Dogecoin (DOGE) dropped 18.1 per cent to sell at $0.0944, Litecoin (LTC) declined by 17.0 per cent to close at $73.42, and Ripple (XRP) slumped by 13.3 per cent to $0.3984.
In addition, Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 13.1 per cent to quote at $468.98, Ethereum (ETH) shrank by 9.9 per cent to $2,91587, Solana (SOL) decreased by 9.1 per cent to $124.05, and Bitcoin (BTC) waned by 6.4 per cent to $55,251.78, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded at $1.00 each.