The woes of the Nigerian Naira in the various segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market continued on Friday as its value further depreciated against the US Dollar at the close of business.
In the black market window, it depleted yesterday by N5 against the Dollar to sell for N1,490/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,485/$1, though gained N1 at the GTBank forex counter to quote at N1,427/$1 versus the preceding session’s N1,428/$1.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) segment, the local currency weakened against the greenback during the session by N3.45 to settle at N1,423.17/$1 compared with the N1,419.72/$1 it was exchanged a day earlier.
In the same vein, the domestic currency lost N3.65 against the Pound Sterling to close at N1,912.03/£1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,908.38/£1 and declined against the Euro by 47 Kobo to finish at N1,658.13/€1, in contrast to the N1,657.66/€1 it was traded on Thursday.
The Nigerian currency came under pressure yesterday due to supply squeeze after a relative period of improved liquidity.
In its outlook for 2026, AIICO Capital Limited said the Naira would trade between N1,350/$1 and N1,400/$1, saying the local currency was undervalued last year.
“The Naira remained undervalued for much of the year, but the extent of misalignment declined materially compared with 2024,” the investment firm said in a note.
This stability is underpinned by ongoing reforms by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and improved portfolio inflows but worries like weak oil prices, FX liquidity crisis, and forced currency devaluation, remain.
In the cryptocurrency market, benchmarked tokens gave up some gains after US employment data for December was mixed, while inflation expectations edged higher, and the U. Supreme Court did not deliver a ruling on the Donald Trump Administration’s tariffs.
Watchers had been expecting a ruling on Friday morning, but the tariff case result was not among those published by the court. More case decisions are expected next Wednesday.
Cardano (ADA) slid by 2.1 per cent to $0.3870, Solana (SOL) depreciated by 1.9 per cent to $135.88, Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 0.8 per cent to $0.1395, Ripple (XRP) slumped by 0.7 per cent to $2.09, Ethereum (ETH) shrank by 0.6 per cent to $3,083.43, and Litecoin (LTC) lost 0.2 per cent to trade at $81.25.
Conversely, Binance Coin (BNB) appreciated by 1.2 per cent to $902.77, and Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 0.1 per cent to $90,520.97, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.