Naira Appreciates on US Dollar in Official, Black Markets Amid Reserves Boost

The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar at both the official and black market, easing worries about the local currency on Friday, October 25

The Naira pulled a marginal gain of 0.07 percent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) as the local currency extended its position from the previous session.

Naira gained N1.20 to close the session at N1,600.00/$1 at the official window, according to data obtained from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.

Turnover published on the FMDQ Group website stood at $284.93 million indicating that the session’s turnover slid by 23.4 percent to $230.99 million published the previous day.

This happened as the latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed that the gross balance in the external reserves climbed to $39.20 billion this week.

According to analysts, this is the highest level seen in the last 28 months as historic records showed that Nigeria’s gross external reserves was last seen at $39.219 billion in July 2022.

In the black market, the Naira gained N7.99 against the greenback to close at N1,698.62 to the US Dollar compared to N1,706.61/$1 it closed on Wednesday.

Equally, the domestic currency also witnessed gains against the British currency and the Euro in the week’s final session.

On the Pound Sterling, the local currency made an appreciation of N7.77 to wrap the session at N2,132.29/£1 from N2,140/£1 that it sold at the previous session and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency closed at N1,768.18/€1 versus N1,780.16/€1, indicating an N11.98 appreciation.

The local currency also rose in value against the British currency in the black market as it rose by N8.02 to sell at N2,204.15/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N2,212.17/£1 and followed the same pattern against the Euro as it appreciated N3.74 to quote at N1,840.34/€1 versus the previous day’s rate of N1,844.08/€1.

The local currency halted recent drops as it gained N2.77 to close at N1,235.06 per Canadian Dollar, compared to Thursday’s N1,237.83 per CAD.