The Naira depreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Monday, November 10, as FX liquidity pressure plummeted the value of the local currency by 71 Kobo or 0.05 per cent to N1,437.39/$1 from the N1,436.58/$1 it traded in the previous session.
Equally, the Naira lost N12 against the Pound Sterling in the spot market to settle at N1,894.78/£1, in contrast to the preceding trading session’s N1,882.35/£1 and declined against the Euro by N5.72 to quote at N1,663.24/€1 versus last Friday’s value of N1,657.52/€1.
However, the domestic currency gained N4 against the greenback at GTBank to close at N1,442/$1 versus N1,446/$1 and depreciated against the US Dollar by N5 to sell for N1,455/$1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,450/$1.
The decline recorded by the Nigerian currency was largely driven by insufficient supply from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and local participants to cover for the demand, according to investment firm AIICO Capital Limited.
Naira came under pressures due to weak US dollar liquidity in the official currency market. The slowdown in FX flows forced the CBN into action with $50 million sold to boost liquidity last week.
FX inflows fell last week by about 14 per cent to $899 million, according to Coronation Merchant Bank research subsidiary, from $1.04 billion the previous week.
The market anticipates that the Naira will trade stable as the CBN maintains stance to support the local currency, a move strengthened by growing external reserves.
As for the cryptocurrency market, investors didn’t seem fazed by progress toward ending the US shutdown boosted sentiment, even as traders eyed a short-term liquidity boost from drawing down the Treasury General Account.
Market analysts noted that the shutdown has created a mixed backdrop for crypto.
On the positive side, the end of the shutdown could release $150–200 billion from the Treasury General Account (TGA) into bank reserves, a liquidity jolt that has historically benefited risk assets, including crypto.
Litecoin (LTC) lost 4.4 per cent to sell at $103.69, Binance Coin (BNB) dropped 2.2 per cent to close at $983.19, Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 1.5 per cent to $3,550.15, Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 1.2 per cent to $0.1785, Solana (SOL) fell by 1.0 per cent to $165.56, Bitcoin (BTC) declined by 0.8 per cent to $105,351.58, and Cardano (ADA) slumped by 0.5 per cent to $0.5845.
On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) gained 1.5 per cent to finish at $2.48, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.