Trading activity resumed at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, July 16, after a day off on Tuesday due to the public holiday declared by the federal government for the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
During the session, the Naira depreciated against the United States Dollar at the official market by 21 Kobo or 0.01 per cent to quote at N1,529.96/$1, in contrast to the N1,529.75/$1 it closed on Monday.
Equally, the Nigerian currency tumbled against the Pound Sterling in the same market window at midweek by N11.62 to close at N2,053.76/£1 versus the preceding session’s N2,042.14/£1 and lost N4.56 against the Euro to trade at N1,779.23/€1 compared with the N1,774.67/€1 it was exchanged in the previous trading day.
Similarly, the value of the Naira crashed against the greenback yesterday in the black market by N5 to end at N1,535/$1 compared with the previous session’s rate of N1,530/$1.
The poor performance of the country’s legal tender occurred despite information that Nigeria’s crude oil production recorded a modest recovery in June 2025, meeting its Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota of 1.5 million barrels per day.
This is expected to give the country’s reserves some backing and reinforced by enhanced foreign portfolio investment (FPI) inflows amid slowdown in import trade-related outflows.
A look at the cryptocurrency market showed optimism among traders as United States lawmakers cleared a procedural hurdle to move to final votes on key crypto legislation on Wednesday.
Yesterday’s vote means the Clarity Act and GENIUS Act will receive final votes. The House will vote on the GENIUS Act on Thursday, and if it passes, it will go to US President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature. The Clarity Act may receive a vote next week.
Ethereum (ETH) rose by 9.1 per cent to $3,438.94, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 7.5 per cent to $3.14, Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 7.1 per cent to $0.2122, Solana (SOL) increased by 5.8 per cent to $172.84, Binance Coin (BNB) gained 4.3 per cent to sell for $719.14, Cardano (ADA) grew by 3.8 per cent to $0.7712, Litecoin (LTC) soared by 2.5 per cent to $98.23, and Bitcoin (BTC) improved by 0.3 per cent to $118,488.45, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.