The last trading day of 2025 at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) segment of the forex market favoured the Naira as its value improved against the United States Dollar on Wednesday by 0.69 per cent or N9.92 to trade at N1,435.76/$1 compared with the N1,445.68/$1 it was traded on Tuesday.
Equally, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the same market window yesterday by N17.42 to settle at N1,934.25/£1, in contrast to the N1,951.67/£1 it ended a day earlier, and gained N12.39 on the Euro to close at N1,687.88/€1 versus the previous session’s closing price of N1,700.27/€1.
The Nigerian currency, however, maintained stability against the US Dollar in the parallel market and the GTBank FX counter during the session at N1,480/$1 and N1,452/$1, respectively.
The appreciation at the market came as demand eased in a year that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) strengthened aggregate supply as well as ensure that Nigeria’s economy remained stable.
The apex last week stepped up FX intervention with $150 million and this week, sold $50 million to banks again in an unending intervention to stabilise the exchange rate.
In its latest outlook, the central bank expects external reserves to hit $51.04 billion in 2026, up from $45 billion in 2025. The reserves are expected to be boosted by reduced pressure in the FX market based on the anticipated rise in oil earnings, sovereign bond issuance, and diaspora remittance inflows.
Come 2026, the CBN said monetary conditions are expected to be relatively loose in view of the macroeconomic stability observed in 2025, as inflation and exchange rate risks continue to subside.
As for the cryptocurrency market, low liquidity and decline in risk appetites weakened price levels among benchmarked tokens, with Cardano (ADA) shedding 4.5 per cent to trade at $0.3358, and Dogecoin (DOGE) declining by 3.8 per cent to $0.1182.
Further, Ripple (XRP) went south by 1.5 per cent to $1.84, Litecoin (LTC) depreciated by 1.4 per cent to $77.11, Bitcoin (BTC) shrank by 1.0 per cent to $87,504.02, Solana (SOL) dropped 0.8 per cent to end at $124.70, and Binance Coin (BNB) lost 0.5 per cent to sell for $860.67.
However, Ethereum (ETH) appreciated by 0.1 per cent to $2,972.66, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.