For the first time in four trading sessions, the Naira heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday, August 21, after its value appreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) window.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the local currency gained 29 Kobo or 0.02 per cent against the greenback during the session to close at N1,535.89/$1 compared with previous day’s rate of N1,536.18/$1.
Similarly, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N7.43 to sell for N2,064.55/£1, in contrast to Wednesday’s closing price of N2,071.98/£1 and gained N6.08 against the Euro to close at the rate of N1,785.96/€1 versus the N1,792.75/€1 it ended at midweek.
There was a relative ease on mounting pressure seen earlier this week after the CBN initially held back from making any direct interventions into the market.
Currency traders expect the value of the Naira to weaken against the US Dollar to as much as N1,560 per Dollar at the official foreign exchange market next week.
According to Reuters, the domestic currency is also expected to remain range-bound, with the apex bank and exchange bureaus selling Dollars to meet demand from importers and travellers.
“With inflation easing, speculative trading has been limited, causing the Naira to trade in a tight range around 1,530,” one trader told the publication, “The Naira is likely to stay in a narrow band between 1,520 and 1,560 next week.”
Meanwhile, the digital currency market was bearish as one of the US Federal Reserve’s policy heads, Cleveland’s Federal Reserve President, Ms Beth Hammack, said the current data does not make the case for a September interest rate ease in the world’s largest economy.
“We have inflation that’s too high and has been trending upwards over the past year,” she said. “If the meeting was tomorrow, I would not see a case for reducing interest rates,” arguing that inflation numbers are only beginning to show the impact of tariffs and that the full effect wouldn’t be seen until next year.
Ms Hammack’s comments are notable, showing the Chairman of the US central bank, Mr Jerome Powell, continues to have plenty of support in his hawkish stance despite two dissident dovish votes at the last central bank policy meeting and President Trump’s continuing campaign for lower rates.
Dogecoin (DOGE) was down by 2.4 per cent to $0.2173, Cardano (ADA) slumped by 2.1 per cent to $0.8549, Solana (SOL) depreciated by 1.9 per cent to $183.35, Ripple (XRP) slipped by 1.8 per cent to $2.86, and Binance Coin (BNB) declined by 1.5 per cent to $849.27.
Further, Bitcoin (BTC) dropped 0.5 per cent to quote at $113,142.30, and Ethereum (ETH) weakened by 0.2 per cent to $4,289.27, while Litecoin (LTC) appreciated by 0.2 per cent to $115.85, with the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closing flat at $1.00 each.