Nigeria stocks hit 3-1/2-year low as funds sell on naira woes

The All Sahre Index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange tumbled 3.4 percent yesterday and hit its lowest point in almost 3-1/2 years, spooked by the weak outlook for the currency.

The share index, which has the second-biggest weighting after Kuwait on the MSCI frontier market index, has fallen for five straight days, sliding below the psychologically important 25,000 point line not seen since September 2012.

At the market close, the index was down 3.4 percent at 24,239 points. The index has dropped 12.4 percent in the first nine days of trading this year.

CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange Oscar Onyema said the bourse expected 2016 to be challenging for the market after the index shed 17.4 percent last year with losses continuing into this year, as oil prices plunged and the domestic economy faltered.

Foreign buyers, who accounted for 54 percent of trading volumes, were on the sidelines owing to the lack of clarity on Nigeria's forex policy, highlighting naira weakness as a deterrent to a market rally in 2016, he said.