By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar for the fourth straight session at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday.
This was supported by the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to flood the market with sufficient FX to calm nerves ahead of the September high demand for forex.
At the spot market yesterday, the local currency improved its value against the greenback by 0.18 per cent or N2.90 to close at N1,593.62/$1 versus the N1,596.52/$1 it was exchanged at midweek.
To ease pressure in the FX market, the central bank sold $876.26 million at N1,495 per dollar to clear outstanding demand from bank customers.
“CBN undertook the sale of FX to end users through a Retail Dutch Auction System (rDAS) to reduce the demand pressure in the FX market, and promote price discovery on Tuesday, August 06, 2024,” the Director of the Financial Markets Department, CBN, Mrs Omolara Omotunde Duke, disclosed.
At the market on Thursday, the value of forex trades significantly rose by 51.2 per cent or $48.07 million to $141.99 million from the $93.92 million recorded on Wednesday.
The Naira lost N4.71 against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session to sell for N2,026.08/£1 versus N2,021.37/£1 and shed 83 Kobo against the Euro to trade at N1,738.87/€1 versus N1,739.70/€1.
Business Post reports that the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the Dollar in the parallel market on Thursday by N5 to settle at N1,605/$1 compared with the preceding day’s value of N1,610/$1.
Cryptocurrencies rebounded yesterday with Bitcoin (BTC) chalking up 9.9 per cent to trade at $60,904.06, the first time it was rising over $60,000 since last weekend’s bloodbath.
Ethereum (ETH) surged by 11.1 per cent to $2,631.18, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 9.4 per cent to $160.16, Dogecoin (DOGE) gained 8.3 per cent to sell at $0.1046, and Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 7.6 per cent to $512. 90.
In addition, Litecoin (LTC) increased its value by 7.2 per cent to finish at $61.01, and Cardano (ADA) expanded by 6.3 per cent to close at $0.346.
However, Ripple (XRP) declined by 3.1 per cent to trade at $0.6109, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.