The Naira weakened against the United States Dollar by N1.33 or 0.1 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Tuesday, May 5, to N1,366.56/$1 from Monday’s N1,365.23/$1.
In the same market segment, the Nigerian currency also depreciated against the Pound Sterling during the session by N1.53 to sell for N1,851.25/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,852.78/£1, but against the Euro, it appreciated by 22 Kobo to close at N1,598.74/€1 versus N1,598.96/€1.
For the second consecutive trading session, the Naira maintained stability against the Dollar at the GTBank forex counter at N1,384/$1 on Tuesday, and also at the parallel market at N1,380/$1.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed a sharp increase in interbank foreign exchange activity, driving today’s liquidity level in the official window.
Interbank FX turnover surged to $71.587 million across 99 deals, from $59.933 million reported the previous day. Elsewhere, Nigeria’s foreign reserves continue to decline, falling to $48.34 billion amid elevated global oil prices.
Global oil prices fell on Tuesday, a day after the US launched an operation aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic, but exchanges of fire between the United States and Iran slowed the decline.
The Naira remained within the expected trading range as the CBN last month defended the Naira with $150 million, around 83 per cent below the equivalent amount injected into the official window in March.
Meanwhile, easing Iran tensions and renewed AI optimism fueled a broad risk-on rally in the cryptocurrency market, with Cardano (ADA) up by 4.3 per cent to $0.2634.
Further, Dogecoin (DOGE) gained 3.6 per cent to settle at $0.1154, Solana (SOL) improved by 3.1 per cent to $87.22, Ripple (XRP) increased by 1.5 per cent to $1.42, Binance Coin (BNB) added 1.3 per cent to sell for $634.67, TRON (TRX) expanded by 1.3 per cent to $0.3436, and Bitcoin (BTC) soared by 0.6 per cent to $81,323.62.
However, Ethereum (ETH) declined by 0.3 per cent to $2,363.37, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat flat at $1.00 each.