By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira continued its impressive run at the two major segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Monday, appreciating by 1.3 per cent or N20.44 against the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) to trade at N1,230.61/$1 compared with last Friday’s closing value of N1,251.05/$1.
Also, the Naira improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N11.62 to sell for N1,574.17/£1 compared with the previous session’s rate of N1,585.79/£1, and against the Euro, it strengthened by N10.16 to close at N1,350.43/€1 versus N1,360.59/€1.
The local currency recorded these gains during the opening session of the week despite a shortfall in the supply of forex to the spot market, as the turnover went down by 49.4 per cent or $122.72 million to $125.55 million from $248.27 million.
Similarly, the domestic currency appreciated against the greenback on Monday in the parallel market by N20 to quote at N1,220/$1 compared with the preceding trading session’s value of N1,240/$1 as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) injected fresh FX into the market via the Bureau de Change (BDC) outlets.
Recent policy moves by the CBN have continued to yield positive results with the market easing from an unprecedented high as the apex bank assured that more FX-focused policies that will trigger price discovery in the market will continue.
The latest move came as the central bank offered to sell Dollars to 1,588 accredited BDC operators in the country at a rate of N1,101/$1, according to a statement on its website, amid ongoing measures to stabilize the local currency.
In addition, the apex bank also banned use of foreign currency-denominated collaterals for Naira loans to ease pressure on FX. It, however, exempted Eurobonds issued by the Federal Government or guarantees of foreign banks, including Standby Letters of Credit.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was mixed yesterday as the price of Ethereum (ETH) reached its highest level since mid-March. The coin accelerated 7.7 per cent in spot crypto markets on Monday amid an uptick in social sentiment and optimism among derivatives traders, closing at $3,694.20.
Further, Cardano (ADA) gained 4.7 per cent to trade at $0.612, Ripple (XRP) expanded by 4.2 per cent to $0.6164, Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 1.9 per cent to $71,044.03, Litecoin (LTC) rose by 1.1 per cent to $102.03, and Solana (SOL) jumped by 0.5 per cent to $178.15.
However, Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 0.5 per cent to sell at $0.2, and Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 0.1 per cent to $584.10, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.