Market News

BY  Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira maintained stability against the Dollar in the black market segment of the currency market on Tuesday at N1,585/$1, data obtained by Business Post showed.

However, the Nigerian currency was not that lucky in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) during the session as its value shrank against the US Dollar by 0.27 per cent or N4.14 to trade at N1,536.12/$1 compared with Monday’s exchange rate of N1,531.98/$1.

It also depreciated against the Euro in the official market yesterday by N5.05 to settle at N1,673.50/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,668.46/€1 but appreciated against the Pound Sterling by N34.72 to trade at N1,949.89/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,984.61/£1.

The FX pressure on the domestic currency intensified on Tuesday after attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria as this development could affect the country’s forex earnings, especially now that the nation is recording improvement in crude oil output.

The explosion of the oil pipelines in Rivers State have caused significant disruption to the country’s oil production, raising worries about possible losses to the FX market and by extension, the Nigerian economy.

This comes amid weak demand for the country’s crude as some of March loadings remain unsold due to viable alternatives. This will impact the country’s ability to earn FX.

Meanwhile, the crypto market was bullish as the US Federal Open Market Committee began its two-day policy meeting yesterday, with results and Chairman Jerome Powell’s post-meeting press conference set for Wednesday.

While no one is expecting a change in interest rates, traders looked for signs that the US Federal Reserve could perhaps take a more dovish given recent market turbulence and a slowdown in inflation.

Ethereum (ETH) rose by 2.2 per cent to $1,936.87, Solana (SOL) jumped by 1.9 per cent to $126.20, Dogecoin (DOGE) appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $0.1638, and Litecoin (LTC) grew by 1.0 per cent to $90.23.

Further, Ripple (XRP) increased its value by 0.9 per cent to $2.29, Cardano (ADA) went up by 0.9 per cent to close at $0.7101, Bitcoin (BTC) expanded by 0.7 per cent to finish at $83,216.28, and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) gained 0.02 per cent to quote at $1.00.

On the flip side, Binance Coin (BNB) declined by 2.5 per cent to end at $617.04, while the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged $1.00.