Naira Trades N1,534/$1 at Official Market, N1,585/$1 at Parallel Market

Also, the value of the Nigerian currency improved against the British Pound Sterling at the same FX market segment by N12.50 to settle at N1,972.89/£1 compared with Wednesday’s closing price of N1,985.39/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N10.30 to close at N1,657.81/€1, in contrast to the N1,668.11/€1 it was exchanged at midweek.

For another trading session, the exchange rate of the Naira to the US Dollar remained unchanged yesterday at N1,585/$1, according to data obtained by this newspaper.

However, the cryptocurrency market was largely negative during the trading day despite fresh comments by President Donald Trump, ramping up his pro-crypto sentiment with an assertion that crypto will spark economic growth.

Speaking via a pre-recorded video at an event, the American President reiterated his promise to the industry, but this didn’t move the needle since he did not announce any new actions, instead reiterating what his administration has already done.

Mr Trump had already signed two executive orders tied to digital assets since taking office for his second term on January 20, after previously creating a working group for digital assets and establishing a Bitcoin reserve using previously seized assets.

At the crypto space on Thursday, Solana (SOL) slumped by 4.9 per cent to trade at $128.08, Dogecoin (DOGE) lost 3.4 per cent to sell at $0.1686, Ethereum (ETH) went down by 2.1 per cent to close at $1,971.64, Ripple (XRP) declined by 2.0 per cent to quote at $2.40, Bitcoin (BTC) shrank by 1.9 per cent to finish at $84,150.03, and Cardano (ADA) decreased by 1.8 per cent to settle at $0.7175.

On the flip side, Binance Coin (BNB) appreciated by 0.6 per cent to end at $630.54, Litecoin (LTC) expanded by 0.3 per cent to $93.06, while the US Dollar Coin (USDC) and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.