The Naira fell against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by N4.59 or 0.32 per cent to N1,456.72/$1 on Friday, November 21 from the N1,452.13/$1 it traded a day earlier.
The domestic currency also depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N5.29 to close at N1,905.98/£1 versus the previous day’s N1,900.69/£1; and depleted against the Euro by N3.54 to finish at N1,678.29/€1, in contrast to the previous session’s closing price of N1,674.75/€1.
However, the Naira closed flat against the Dollar at GTBank at N1,457/$1, and remained unchanged in the black market at N1,465/$1.
The ongoing structural volatility and demand-supply dynamics in Nigeria’s foreign exchange (FX) market continued to cause supply-demand imbalances.
The market hope of a reversal in minimal interventions by the apex bank which has capped sales at $50 million in recent weeks did not materialise as the Naira traded at safe levels.
During the week, Nigeria’s external reserves reached the $46.7 billion mark, largely attributed to the federal government’s Eurobond issuance and rising FX inflows from offshore investors, giving possible lifeline of increased supply in due course.
As for the crypto market, there were some gains as the market erased doubts over the Federal Reserve’s ability to cut rates in December. The US central bank’s hawkish pivot in late October contributed to the market’s slide over the past weeks.
New York Fed President John Williams said on Friday there is still room to adjust policy in the near term, putting a potential rate cut in December back on the table, with Ripple (XRP) up by 0.9 per cent to $1.94 and Ethereum (ETH) rose by 0.7 per cent to $2,747.27, while Bitcoin (BTC) expanded by 0.3 per cent to $84,424.05.
On the flip side, Litecoin (LTC) slumped by 2.2 per cent to $82.93, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 1.5 per cent to $0.4049, Dogecoin (DOGE) dropped 0.9 per cent to end at $0.1392, Solana (SOL) went down by 0.8 per cent to $127.25, and Binance Coin (BNB) slid by 0.3 per cent to $829.60, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.