It was a bad day for the Naira in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, June 16 as its value shrank against the United States Dollar at the close of transactions.
The Nigerian currency lost 0.18 per cent or N2.72 on the greenback during the trading session to close at N1,554.57/$1 compared with the N1,551.85/$1 it was traded last Friday.
The local currency also weakened against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N1.16 to sell for N2,101.46/£1 compared with the preceding day’s N2,100.30/£1 and lost N3.66 to finish at N1,791.92/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,788.26/€1.
However, the domestic currency appreciated against the Dollar in the black market segment yesterday by N20 to trade at N1,590/$1 compared with the preceding session’s rate of N1,610/$1.
The Naira, over the recent weeks, had been stable due to sustained investor confidence and market optimism boosted by offshore FX inflows as well as boosting local production, easing forex pressure, and strengthening non-oil exports.
However, recent global jitters particularly the Israel-Iran attacks have spooked investors even as oil prices have seen over 7 per cent boost in the last week.
Support is expected to come as Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased further to 22.97 per cent in May 2025, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), showing a decline from April’s 23.71 per cent, marking a 0.74 per cent reduction.
In the cryptocurrency market, the bears took control due to profit-taking, though Ripple (XRP) moved in a different direction, rising by 2.6 per cent to close at $2.23.
Daily active addresses has jumped nearly 700 per cent in just one week. According to data from Santiment, the number of daily interacting XRP addresses has soared to 295,000, up from a three-month average of around 40,000.
Together with this surge, the number of whale wallets containing 1 million or more XRP has also reached an all-time high as there are now 2,700 wallets with at least 1 million XRP in it- worth approximately $2.25 million per wallet.
It is the largest figure in the 12-year history of XRP, which demonstrates the increasing level of confidence among big investors.
In addition, Binance Coin (BNB) increased by 0.7 per cent to $658.84, and Bitcoin (BTC) went up by 0.3 per cent to $106,973.78.
On the flip side, Dogecoin (DOGE) slumped by 1.9 per cent to $0.1738, Solana (SOL) fell by 1.9 per cent to $153.58, Cardano (ADA) slid by 1.6 per cent to $0.6334, Ethereum (ETH) declined by 1.4 per cent to $2,580.71, and Litecoin (LTC) crashed by 1.0 per cent to $86.42, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.