The foreign exchange (FX) demand pressure eased on the Naira in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, October 9, causing its value against the United States Dollar to strengthen by N3.97 or 0.27 per cent to N1,466.65/$1 from the previous day’s rate of N1,470.62/$1.
Equally, it gained N14.57 against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session to settle at N1,960.62/£1 compared with Wednesday’s closing price of N1,975.19/£1 and improved against the Euro by N9.32 to close at N1,702.19/€1 versus N1,711.51/€1.
The exchange rate of the Naira to the Dollar at GTBank, according to data from the financial institution yesterday, was flat at N1,478/$1.
In the same vein, the Nigerian currency remained unchanged against its American counterpart in the black market on Thursday at N1,485/$1.
Recent pressure eased on the local currency following an imbalance between US Dollar demand and supply in the forex market as inflows into the currency market from exporters and international oil companies as well as sustained input from foreign portfolio investors.
Support also continued to come from signals relating to the Nigerian economy with progresses seen in economic growth, revenue mobilization, and external balances. However, high food inflation and widespread poverty continued to weigh heavily on households, according to the World Bank.
In the cryptocurrency market, profit-taking dominated as ongoing US government shutdown may also be starting to weigh on investor sentiment, disrupting the release of key economic data and slowing operations for businesses that rely on federal services, such as the digital asset markets.
Solana (SOL) lost 2.7 per cent to sell at $221.56, Binance Coin (BNB) weakened by 2.1 per cent to $1,273, Ethereum (ETH) declined by 1.8 per cent to $4,353.67, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 0.5 per cent to $121,576.02, Ripple (XRP) crashed by 0.3 per cent to $2.82, and Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 0.2 per cent to $0.8186.
Conversely, Litecoin (LTC) soared by 10.7 per cent to $131.02, and Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 0.8 per cent to $0.2509, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.