Foreign investors sold off Nigerian
stocks valued at N846.5 billion ($4.5 billion) last year, stock exchange
data showed on Monday, 65 percent more than in 2013 as falls in oil
prices and the naira currency depressed sentiment.
With an insurgency raging in the
country’s north and political risk added to the mix in the rum-up to
national elections later this month, the exodus has extended into 2015.
Nigeria’s main share index, which was up
1.1 percent on Monday, has fallen 14.7 percent so far this year. It
shed 16 percent in 2014.
Top decliners this year include Dangote
Cement, which accounts for a third of market capitalisation, down 22
percent, and Transcorp down 13 percent.
Foreign investors increased the pace of
stock market outflows from September, selling out of the relatively
liquid banking, consumer and oil sectors as the price of Brent crude,
the benchmark against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, slumped.
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest economy and chief oil exporter.
Its central bank has regularly
intervened to try to prop up the naira, doing so on Monday when the
currency fell to 190.50 to the dollar.
Nigeria’s foreign reserves dropped to $34 billion by January 28, down 20 percent from a year ago.
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