Naira Records Its First Relative Gain Against the Dollar This Week

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira experienced a relative gain against the Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, March 28, marking its first such appreciation this week.

The domestic currency rose by 65 Kobo or 0.04 per cent against the greenback during the session to reach 1,538.26/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s rate of 1,538.91/$1 as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) bolstered forex liquidity to stabilize the market.

Over the last few sessions, the local currency had been depreciating due to FX liquidity tightness in the absence of interventions from the central bank.

So far, interventions in the market this month have nearly reached $1 billion in a bid to strengthen the Nigerian currency.

However, the Naira depreciated against the British Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N1.00 to sell for 1,991.87/£1 compared to the previous day’s 1,990.87/£1 and against the Euro, it decreased by N1.40 to quote at 1,660.99/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s value of 1,659.59/€1.

At the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated by N5 against the US Dollar yesterday to close at 1,555/$1 compared with the preceding trading day’s rate of 1,560$1.

As for the cryptocurrency market, it was down on Friday amid a sell-off in US stocks due to poor economic data, with crypto-focused stocks also suffering heavy losses.

Continued macroeconomic woes pressed upon the broader crypto market with the implementation of broad-scale US tariffs next week on April 2 by the administration of Mr Donald Trump, which added to investor concerns across markets.

In the cryptocurrencies market, Ripple (XRP) lost 5.3 per cent to finish at $2.13, Solana (SOL) slumped by 4.8 per cent to trade at $126.89, Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped by 4.4 per cent to sell at $0.1755, and Binance Coin (BNB) depreciated by 4.2 per cent to $606.31.

Furthermore, Litecoin (LTC) dropped 3.1 per cent to close at $86.21, Cardano (ADA) went down by 2.9 per cent to settle at $0.6869, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 2.5 per cent to $83,699.86, and Ethereum (ETH) slid by 2.2 per cent to $1,877.62, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.