Foreign investors pulled $4.5 bln from Nigeria's stock market in 2014

By Chijioke Ohuocha
LAGOS (Reuters) - Foreign investors sold off Nigerian stocks valued at 846.5 billion naira ($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 Islamist 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.
($1 = 189.10 naira)
(editing by John Stonestreet)