Market News
Naira Appreciates to N1,330/$1 at Official Market - BUSINESS POST
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, September 29, by 85 Kobo or 0.06 per cent to close at N1,330.47/$1, in contrast to Monday’s N1,331.32/$1.
The Nigerian currency also improved its value against the Pound Sterling at the official market during the session by N5.39 to trade at N1,760.62/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,766.01/£1, and gained N3.23 on the Euro to sell at N1,509.56/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,512.79/€1.
However, the Naira depreciated against the United States currency at the GTBank forex counter yesterday by N2 to quote at N1,338/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,336/$1, and traded flat at the parallel market at N1,370/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed in its daily FX data that interbank turnover increased by 225.3 per cent to $80.582 million on Tuesday from $24.731 million on Monday, with the number of deals rising to 94 from 37.
There are expectations that the Naira will remain relatively stable in the near term even as the US Dollar remain stronger this week due to anticipation of improved FX inflows from oil receipts, capital importation and improved balance of trade.
Nigeria’s gross external reserves rose to $54.91 billion from $45.50 billion at the start of the year, supporting the Naira appreciation.
In the cryptocurrency market, the two most valued coins dropped while other benchmarked coins rose.
Traders are waiting on a key US inflation reading later on Wednesday for clues on where interest rates go next. A high print tends to raise the odds of a hike, which lifts the Dollar and weighs on risk assets like crypto.
Following the US Federal Reserve’s initial rate hike in three years earlier this month, there are expectations of another Federal Reserve rate increase in October.
Bitcoin (BTC) slipped by 0.11 per cent to $83,355.84, and Ethereum (ETH) dropped 0.09 per cent to trade at $2,674.38.
But TRON (TRX) increased by 0.9 per cent to $0.3375, Solana (SOL) jumped by 0.7 per cent to $119.03, Binance Coin (BNB) expanded by 0.6 per cent to $764.06, Ripple (XRP) soared by 0.6 per cent to $1.50, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 0.3 per cent to $0.2458, and Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 0.1 per cent to $0.0939, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 apiece.
