The Naira gained N4.80 or 0.35 per cent against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Tuesday, July 21, to trade at N1,375.31/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s N1,380.11/$1.
Also, the local currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N16.22 to quote at N1,857.35/£1 versus Monday’s closing price of N1,854.42/£1, and improved against the Euro by N8.17 to settle at N1,567.78/€1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N1,575.95/€1.
In the same vein, the Nigerian currency strengthened against the US Dollar by N1 at the GTBank FX counter during the session to exchange at N1,388/$1 compared with the preceding day’s rate of N1,389/$1, and maintained stability in the parallel market at N1,405/$1.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that interbank FX turnover increased sharply by more than 21 per cent to $322.644 million from $266.227 million the previous day.
Interbank FX deal count also climbed to 110, from 66, as banks bid for international payments on behalf of their corporate clients increased.
Latest data from the CBN revealed external reserves topped $52 billion due to sustained FX inflows across multiple sources, including hydrocarbon sales receipts. Gross external reserves surged to $52.024 billion from $51.942 billion.
Also, the central bank retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), the country’s benchmark interest rate, at 26.5 per cent as it seeks to sustain the gradual decline in inflation while shielding the economy from growing global uncertainties.
In the crypto market, benchmarked tokens fell after traders took profit, following rallies driven by a semiconductor boon which has driven crypto all month while the Japanese yen sank to its weakest level in four decades.
Bitcoin (BTC) came in flat at $65,885.77, but Cardano (ADA) slumped by 3.1 per cent to $0.1706, Solana (SOL) dropped 1.8 per cent to sell at $77.12, Binance Coin (BNB) lost 1.5 per cent to trade at $567.38, Dogecoin (DOGE) declined by 1.1 per cent to $0.0723, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to $1,916.21, and Ripple (XRP) dipped by 0.3 per cent to $1.13, while TRON (TRX) gained 0.7 per cent to close at $0.3286, with the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) flat at $1.00 each.