The Naira slid against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Thursday, November 27 by 99 Kobo or 0.07 per cent to N1,443.91/$1 from the N1,442.92/$1 recorded in the previous session.
Equally, the domestic currency depreciated further against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the trading day by N6.50 to close at N1,913.03/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,906.53/£1 and lost N3.02 against the Euro to finish at N1,670.90/€1, in contrast to the previous session’s closing price of N1,670.90/€1.
In the same vein, the Nigerian currency suffered a N1 loss against the greenback at the GTBank forex counter, closing at N1,447/$1 compared with the preceding day’s closing value of N1,446/$1, but at the parallel market, it closed flat at N1,460/$1.
There was pressure at the market as demand surged with December, a season known for festivities, nears. Many firms, especially in manufacturing and retail, are moving to stock heavily for Christmas and New Year sales. Final payments to foreign suppliers often due in November-December, increasing corporate demand for FX.
However, there are enough signals that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) can handle this demand with a strong $46.7 billion external reserves position, which was boosted by rising non-oil exports, improved oil production, higher remittances, and increasing portfolio investment.
Also, FX inflows into the official market has been on the decline, and this forced the CBN to action last week.
In the cryptocurrency market, benchmarked coins were mixed as December rate cut came into focus, influencing market behaviour. With volatility crushed into the US holiday and traders focused on the December 12 meeting of the US Federal Reserve committee meeting, crypto is trading as a macro asset rather than on sector-specific news.
Bitcoin (BTC) climbed by 0.7 per cent to $91,599.40, Ripple (XRP) rose by 0.5 per cent to $2.21, and Binance Coin (BNB) appreciated by 0.4 per cent to $895.98.
On the flip side, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 1.9 per cent to $0.1509, Litecoin (LTC) slumped by 1.6 per cent to $85.11, Solana (SOL) went down by 1.6 per cent to $140.44, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 1.0 per cent to $0.4269, and Ethereum (ETH) decreased by 0.2 per cent to $3,024.01, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) finished flat at $1.00 each.