By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira closed the week stronger against the United States Dollar at N1,337.29/$1 from N1,338.59/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, August 28, indicating a N1.30 or 0.09 per cent gain.
The domestic currency also appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market during the trading day by N4.30 to close at N1,816.04/£1 versus the previous day’s N1,820.34/£1, and improved against the Euro by N3.25 to trade at N1,556.87/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s N1,560.12/€1.
At the GTBank forex counter, the Nigerian Naira gained N6 against the US Dollar yesterday to close at N1,346/$1 versus the previous day’s N1,351/$1, and at the parallel market, it remained unchanged at N1,380/$1.
Total FX turnover fell to $130.69 million from $191.69 million, according to data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), reflecting a 31.8 per cent slide in market-maker activity. Equally, the deal count declined to 146 from 176 the previous day.
Nigeria’s gross external reserves have surpassed $53 billion, supported by sustained accretion from multiple sources, including hydrocarbon sales and remittances.
FX inflows continue to flood Nigeria’s financial markets due to attractive yields on fixed-income securities and limited direct bets on the local economy, particularly in manufacturing.
This could be bolstered further as a global index provider, FTSE Russell, reclassified Nigeria’s capital market from “Unclassified” to “Frontier Market” status, effective from the opening of trading on September 21, 2026.
Also, Moody’s Ratings revised Nigeria’s credit outlook to positive, citing stronger-than-expected economic growth. The improvements reflect stronger external buffers and greater macroeconomic stability, while rising oil production is expected to provide an additional boost to growth in 2026 and 2027.
The credit grader also affirmed the nation’s rating at B3, six levels below investment grade.
In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin (BTC) slipped back below $78,000 on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh pledged to bring inflation back to target, pushing short-term Treasury yields higher and cooling some of the week’s risk-on momentum. BTC shed 2.8 per cent to $77,520.69.
Mr Warsh said financial conditions are not restrictive and stressed that inflation must move clearly toward the US central bank’s target, reinforcing expectations that policy could stay tighter for longer.
With no clear directional views in sight, the digital assets fell.
Cardano (ADA) dipped by 4.6 per cent to $0.2002, Dogecoin (DOGE) crashed by 3.8 per cent to $0.0844, Binance Coin (BNB) lost 3.3 per cent to end at $687.30, Solana (SOL) slipped by 2.8 per cent to $103.79, Ripple (XRP) tumbled by 2.7 per cent to $1.38, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 2.4 per cent to settle at $2,436.27, and TRON (TRX) fell by 0.4 per cent to $0.3382, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.0 apiece.
