The first trading day of the week at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market ended on a negative note for the Naira as its value depreciated against the United States Dollar on Monday, August 11.
According to data, the Nigerian Naira lost N1.68 or 0.10 per cent against the greenback in the official market yesterday to sell for N1,535.97/$1 compared with the N1,534.29/$1 it was exchanged last Friday.
However, the domestic currency marginally gained 20 Kobo against the Pound Sterling in the spot market to close at N2,060.14/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N2,060.34/£1 and appreciated against the Euro by N3.85 to trade at N1,782.75/€1, in contrast to the previous session’s N1,786.60/€1.
In the black market, the exchange rate of the Nigerian currency and its American counterpart remained unchanged at N1,560/$1 on Monday.
Market analysts and traders have maintained that the Naira would appreciate further given persistent FX injections by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Analysts at Cowry Asset Management Limited expect the Naira to sustain its marginal gains in the coming week, supported by the CBNs continued intervention in the FX market.
“While global trade tensions and volatility in the oil market, particularly the recent downward trend in crude prices, pose potential headwinds, the apex bank’s efforts to inject liquidity and stabilise demand pressures should provide a buffer against sharp depreciation. As such, although external factors may exert intermittent pressure, we anticipate the naira to hold relatively steady, especially at the official window, barring any major shocks in global commodity or financial markets,” the weekly report noted.
AIICO Capital added that the CBN’s announcement of clearing all outstanding FX forward contracts had also boosted the Naira performance at NFEM.
As for the cryptocurrency market, most of the token tracked by Business Post were in red ahead of the release of US inflation data, which may show the impact of trade tariffs on consumer prices. A higher-than-expected CPI could dampen US Federal Reserves rate cut bets and weigh on risk assets.
Dogecoin (DOGE) slumped by 6.1 per cent to $0.2236, Solana (SOL) lost 5.7 per cent to sell at $174.84, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 5.7 per cent to $0.7775, Ripple (XRP) went down by 4.2 per cent to $3.14, and Litecoin (LTC) slumped by 3.9 per cent to $119.27.
Further, Bitcoin (BTC) declined by 2.6 per cent to $118,831.37, Binance Coin (BNB) fell by 1.7 per cent to $806.57, and Ethereum (ETH) depleted by 0.2 per cent to $4,292.84, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 apiece.