By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Naira moved in different directions on Tuesday in the local currency market, appreciating against the United States Dollar in the official market and depreciating in the black market.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) yesterday, the local currency marginally gained 63 Kobo or 0.04 per cent on the greenback to sell for N1,576.66/$1 compared with Monday’s closing price of N1,577.29/$1.
Data obtained from the FMDQ Securities Exchange indicated that FX turnover for the spot market went down by 13.3 per cent or $20.36 million to $133.17 million from the previous session’s $153.53 million.
But the domestic currency weakened against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the trading session by N2.62 to close at N2,037.36/£1 versus the preceding day’s N2,034.74/£1 and against the Euro, its value shrank by N1.62 to trade at N1,711.49/€1, in contrast to the previous day’s N1,709.87/€1.
Similarly, in the parallel market, the Naira declined against the US Dollar yesterday by N15 to quote at N1,585/$1, in contrast to the N1,570/$1 it was exchanged a day earlier.
Nigeria’s inflation figures released on Monday reduced the possibility of easing interest rates which affects the FX market.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised interest rates aggressively to confront high inflation and stabilize the Naira, which has weakened about 70 per cent against the Dollar since new rules were introduced in the market a year ago.
The Naira also ranks as the world’s second worst-performing currency after the Lebanese Pounds.
A look at the digital currency market showed that it was bullish, with Ripple (XRP) appreciating by 13.5 per cent to $0.6129 as some whales, which are entities with significant holdings in cryptocurrencies, have recently acquired over 100 million coins, fueling the market optimism amid rumours of a potential settlement in the Ripple and US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit.
Litecoin (LTC) jumped by 11.2 per cent to $73.39, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 3.8 per cent to close at $65,553.01, Solana (SOL) improved by 4.2 per cent to $161.40, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 3.7 per cent to $0.1259, and Cardano (ADA) went up by 3.6 per cent to $0.448.
In addition, Binance Coin (BNB) advanced by 2.9 per cent to trade at $582.56, and Ethereum (ETH) soared by 2.5 per cent to $3,490.57, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 a piece.