Naira Falls by 2.7% to N1,675.49/$1 at NAFEX as Election Uncertainty Hits Crypto Market

The Naira fell by 2.7 per cent or N44.32 against the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Thursday, October 31

The Naira fell sharply against the US Dollar at the NAFEX window on Thursday, October 31, to close the last day of October at N1,675.49/$1, depreciating by 2.7 per cent or N44.32 compared to the preceding day’s N1,631.17/$1.

Also, the value of the Naira decreased against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N3.75 to sell at N2,147.15/£1, in contrast to the previous session’s N2,143.40/£1.

Similarly, the local currency performed poorly against the Euro at NAFEM, where it depreciated by N9.29 to quote at N1,791.36/€1, worsening from midweek’s closing rate of N1,782.07/€1.

However, data showed a rise in FX supply to the spot market yesterday, with turnover increasing by 29.2 per cent or $37.63 million to $166.61 million from the $128.98 million recorded on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Naira suffered a N5 loss against the greenback in the black market during the trading session to finish at N1,750/$1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N1,745/$1.

In the cryptocurrency market, things turned bearish as investors and traders were on edge following growing uncertainty around the result of next week’s US presidential election.

Market watchers attributed the crypto slump to shrinking odds for a victory for crypto-friendly Republican candidate Donald Trump. On crypto betting site Polymarket, Trump’s chances of winning tumbled to just 61 per cent on Thursday from 67 per cent earlier this week. The victory odds for Democrat Kamala Harris have surged to 39 per cent from 33 per cent.

Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped by 6.8 per cent to $0.1597, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 5.2 per cent to $2,509.75, Solana (SOL) slumped by 4.6 per cent to trade at $167.09, Cardano (ADA) shed 4.2 per cent to finish at $0.3412, Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 3.8 per cent to $69,506.61, Litecoin (LTC) tumbled by 3.2 per cent to $69.11, Binance Coin (BNB) shed 2.2 per cent to settle at $577.93, and Ripple (XRP) dropped 0.8 per cent to quote at $0.5167, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.