The Naira appreciated against the United States Dollar in the parallel and official markets on Monday as the financial markets anticipate the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Tuesday.
The MPC of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is expected to keep the key interest rate of 27.50 per cent for a second straight meeting as inflation continues to cool.
In the black market yesterday, the Nigerian currency improved its value against the Dollar by N5 to settle at N1,620/$1 compared with the preceding session’s rate of N1,625/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency gained 63 Kobo or 0.04 per cent on the American currency in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) during the session to trade at N1,598.94/$1, in contrast to last Friday’s value of N1,599.57/$1.
However, the Naira depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the spot market by N13.87 to close at N2,137.29/£1 versus the previous trading day’s N2,123.42/£1 and lost N10.99 against the Euro to finish at N1,799.00/€1 versus N1,788.01/€1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was bullish on Monday as investors looked past Moody’s downgrade of the US’ credit rating last Friday, extending the markets’ rally from last week on the US-China’s temporary trade truce.
The 90-day tariff pause has given market participants a clear, short-term positive signal that’s supportive for risk assets including crypto.
Moody’s lowered the US credit rating down one notch to Aa1 from Aaa, bringing the agency in line with peers.
The firm cited financing challenges tied to the federal government’s growing budget deficit and the ramifications of rolling over existing U.S. debts in a period of high borrowing costs.
The debt downgrade pressured bond prices and sent yields higher at a time when the economy is already awaiting the full impact of President Donald Trump’s unfolding tariff policy, but it didn’t stop the direction of crypto prices.
Ethereum (ETH) jumped by 6.8 per cent to $2,550.21, Solana (SOL) grew by 3.8 per cent to $168.81, Dogecoin (DOGE) increased by 3.6 per cent to $0.2253, Bitcoin (BTC) grew by 2.9 per cent to $106,006.35, Cardano (ADA) rose by 2.6 per cent to $0.7413, Litecoin (LTC) improved by 2.2 per cent to $97.53, Binance Coin (BNB) gained 1.9 per cent to sell for $650.85, and Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 1.2 per cent to $2.37, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00, respectively.