In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market, the Nigerian Naira gained N4.75 or 0.33 per cent against the United States Dollar on Tuesday, October 26, to close at N1,448.32/$1, in contrast to the preceding day’s N1,453.07/$1.
In the same vein, the domestic currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official market by N27.07 to finish at N1,919.45/£1 compared with Monday’s N1946.52/£1, and chalked up N4.91 gain on the Euro to settle at N1,690.33/€1, in contrast to the previous session’s N1,690.33/€1.
At GTBank, the Naira appreciated against the greenback yesterday by N3 to quote at N1,462/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,465/$1, and appreciated against the Dollar in the black market window by N15 to sell for N1,475/$1.
The Naira continued to strengthen as FX pressure eases. Economic reforms are driving positive sentiments and confidence across markets, complementing liquidity into the market from foreign sources, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and other channels.
Foreign portfolio investors and exporters inflows lifted US Dollar volume at the official window in addition to supply by non-bank corporate and individuals.
In its market update, Coronation Merchant Bank Limited revealed that foreign exchange inflows through the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market improved to $1.37 billion last week.
This suggests FX inflows in the official window increased by 25 per cent week on week on from $1.10 billion in the prior week. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained the dominant source, according to Coronation Research, contributing 33.5 per cent ($460.01 million) of total inflows, followed by exporters (14.9 per cent), Non-Bank Corporates (10.8 per cent), CBN (6.6 per cent), and other sources (28.6 per cent).
In the cryptocurrency market, profit-taking impacted major benchmarked tokens despite expectations that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rate by 25 basis points. The US central bank is expected to reduce its benchmark policy rate to 3.75 per cent to 4.00 per cent benchmark.
However, it is doing so amid the absence of key data due to extended federal government shutdown in the US.
Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 2.7 per cent to $0.6461, Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 2.4 per cent to $0.1945, Litecoin (LTC) slumped by 2.3 per cent to $97.23, and Solana (SOL) shrank by 2.1 per cent to $195.60, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 1.4 per cent to sell at $4,031.99, Binance Coin (BNB) slid 1.4 per cent to $1,112.52, Bitcoin (BTC) depleted by 0.5 per cent to $113,258.26, and Ripple (XRP) crashed by 0.4 per cent to $2.62, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.