The Naira appreciated further against the United States Dollar by N1.84 or 0.13 per cent to N1,463.45/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, October 21 from the N1,463.45/$1 it was traded in the preceding session.
The domestic currency also appreciated further against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N7.89 to close at N1,957.07/£1 compared with Monday’s closing price of N1,964.96/£1, and gained N4.47 against the Euro to sell at N1,702.45/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,706.92/€1.
At GTBank, the Naira closed flat against the greenback during the season for another trading day at N1,475/$1 and also remained unchanged against the Dollar in the parallel market at N1,490/$1.
Recent FX pressure continued to ease on the Naira buoyed by a drop in speculative activities as the impact of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) economic reforms continue to drive positive sentiments and confidence across markets. The injection of liquidity into the market and rising compliance with FX regulations have reduced sharp depreciation of the naira at official and parallel markets.
Also, the local forex market continues to be supported by improved market liquidity from local participants, oil revenues, and offshore portfolio inflows.
However, analysts say pressure remains on the local currency as foreign investors sell local assets amid global risk aversion and limited supply of the greenback.
In the cryptocurrency market, there were some recoveries following easing tensions between the US and the China, but there remained some uncertainties as investors feared further decline.
Support came as gold and silver, which were havens for investors, saw considerable decline following a steep selloff.
The value of Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 0.6 per cent to $108,176.12, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 0.5 per cent to $184.55, and Litecoin (LTC) jumped by 0.4 per cent to sell at $92.67.
On the flip side, Dogecoin (DOGE) declined by 0.9 per cent to $0.1915, Cardano (ADA) lost 0.6 per cent to trade at $0.6368, Ripple (XRP) went down by 0.5 per cent to close at $2.40, Binance Coin (BNB) slipped by 0.04 per cent to $1,068.26, and Ethereum (ETH) fell by 0.03 per cent to $3,863.47, white the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.