The Naira has continued to show resilience in the foreign exchange (FX) market on the back of enhanced forex inflows, strengthening against the United States Dollar in the different segments of the market.
In the black market window, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the Dollar on Monday, September 8 by N20 to sell for N1,520/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,540/$1.
Also, in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) segment, the local currency gained N8.50 or 0.56 per cent against the greenback yesterday to sell for N1,507.85/$1, in contrast to the N1,512.96/$1 it was exchanged at the last trading session, which was on Thursday, September 4.
However, the domestic currency crashed against the Pound Sterling in the official market on Monday by N6.88 to trade at N2,041.62/£1 versus the previous session’s N2,036.44/£1, and lost N10.42 against the Euro to close at N1,770.69/€1 compared with the previous rate of N1,764.21/€1.
The Naira has attained stability this month, backed by robust FX liquidity and an efficient FX market. Specifically, analysts expect sustained inflows from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) due to stronger market confidence.
Analysts at Cordros Capital Group stated that Naira’s performance was “supported by supply from foreign portfolio investors” as well as $15 million intervention by the apex bank during the week.
Also, Nigeria’s forex reserves increased for the ninth consecutive week to close weekend at $41.500 billion as against $41.268 billion recorded penultimate week, representing an increase of $232 million, according to data by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Experts noted that the sustained reserves accretion, decline in headline inflation rate, commodities prices dip, improving non-oil export receipts and diminished incentives for speculative positioning in the Naira are likely to sustain the momentum.
As for the cryptocurrency market, it was bullish, with Solana (SOL) rising by 5.5 per cent to close at $218.59, and Cardano (ADA) increasing by 5.1 per cent to $0.8829, and Ripple (XRP) expanding by 4.1 per cent to $2.99.
Further, Dogecoin (DOGE) also grew by 4.1 per cent to $0.2411, Ethereum (ETH) jumped by 1.7 per cent to $4,336.77, Bitcoin (BTC) soared by 1.6 per cent to $113,039.96, Litecoin (LTC) appreciated by 1.0 per cent to $113.74, and Binance Coin (BNB) surged by 0.9 per cent to $881.07, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.