The Naira strengthened against the US Dollar by 0.53 per cent or N11.08 to N1,549.13/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, June 18 from the N1,554.57/$1 it was traded on Tuesday.
This was influenced by forex liquidity, cooling inflation and the promise of synergy between the fiscal and monetary authorities by the federal government.
Further, the Nigerian Naira extended its gains against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N6.54 to sell for N2,083.84/£1 compared with the preceding day’s N2,094.92/£1 and gained N5.59 on the Euro to quote at N1,782.83/€1, in contrast to the previous day’s N1,786.33/€1.
Similarly, the domestic currency appreciated against the Dollar in the black market at midweek by N5 to settle at N1,580/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s value of N1,585/$1.
Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, profit-taking dominated yesterday following risk associated with conflict between Israel and Iran and the possibility of an escalation.
According to market analysts, geopolitical conflicts may end up offering support to crypto as it raises the prospects of higher inflation rates due to fiscal spending, looser monetary policy, supply disruptions, and spike in the prices of commodities.
Meanwhile, the losses have been mitigated by adoption and institutional involvement, who see the digital assets as a hedge, with Cardano (ADA) losing 2.6 per cent to trade at $0.6012 and Solana (SOL) falling by 1.7 per cent to close at $145.39.
Further, Binance Coin (BNB) slid by 1.2 per cent to finish at $645.30, Bitcoin (BTC) slumped by 0.7 per cent to sell at $104,768.48, Ethereum (ETH) recorded a decline of 0.6 per cent to end at $2,521.18, Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 0.4 per cent to close at $0.1705, Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 0.2 per cent to trade at $2.16, and Litecoin (LTC) shrank by 0.1 per cent to quote at $85.13, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) both traded at flat $1.00 apiece.