The Naira appreciated against the United States Dollar by N8.46 or 0.62 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Monday, June 1, to trade at N1,366.79/$1 compared to the previous rate of N1,375.25/$1.
Also, the local currency further gained N15.34 against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session to settle at N1,833.28/£1 versus last Friday’s value of N1,848.62/£1, and improved against the Euro by N14.36 to sell for N1,587.12/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,601.48/€1.
At the GTBank FX bench, the Nigerian Naira chalked up N1 against the Dollar during the session to quote at N1,378/$1 compared with last Friday’s N1,379/$1, but at the black market, it maintained stability at N1,380/$1.
Nigeria’s gross external reserves settled at $49.58 billion at the end of May, a sharp rebound from the previous downtrend, driven by foreign debt service and FX intervention in the official window.
The improvement in reserve levels was likely supported by increased foreign exchange inflows, particularly from crude oil export proceeds, amid sustained strength in global oil prices.
With the stellar performance witnessed in the first half of 2026, there are expectations that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will continue to inject forex into the official market, while elevated oil prices in the global commodity market will buoy the country’s FX reserves.
As for the cryptocurrency market, prices dipped after Strategy (MSTR), the largest publicly traded holder of Bitcoin (BTC), sold some of its holdings for the first time in four years. BTC slipped 3.6 per cent to a session low of $71,014.37.
Increased risk also came as Iran reportedly halted talks with the US in protest over Israel, which has continued incursions into Lebanon. The news sent crude oil prices surging by more than $5 per barrel and US stock index futures from modest gains to modest losses.
Ripple (XRP) slumped by 2.7 per cent to $1.29, Binance Coin (BNB) declined by 2.4 per cent to $690.41, Cardano (ADA) dipped by 2.0 per cent to $0.2291, TRON (TRX) dropped by 1.8 per cent to $0.3437, Solana (SOL) lost 1.5 per cent to trade at $80.61, and Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 0.8 per cent to $1,991.03.
But Dogecoin (DOGE) marginally grew by 0.1 per cent to $0.0998, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.