Nigerian markets fall, central bank intervenes as weak oil price pressures naira

• Foreign investors exit Nigeria assets on naira concerns
• Main stock index down 1.6 pct at 36,744 points
• Stocks down 9.6 pct this year as investors exit
• Naira down 4.3 pct in 2014, unnerved by falling oil price


  Nigeria's main share index hit a 13-month low and government bonds fell on Tuesday as foreign investors pulled out of Nigerian assets, prompting the central bank to sell dollars to support the ailing naira.
    Nigeria's currency has come under pressure in the past two months from falling global oil prices, dampening appetite for assets in Africa's biggest economy and chief oil exporter.
    Though the central bank has been intervening this year to prop up its value, the naira has lost 4.3 percent since Jan. 2.
    Foreign investors pulled more money out of the stock market on Tuesday, mainly in the relatively liquid banking and cement sectors, as the oil price fell 3 percent to a four-year low of just above $82 a barrel and as Nigerian companies reported mixed results.
    Nigeria's main share index closed down 1.6 percent at 36,744 points, a level last seen on Oct. 7, 2013.     The index has now fallen 11 percent in the past month, although it picked up briefly last week.
    The naira, which had earlier lost 0.3 percent intraday against the U.S. currency as funds repatriated cash, recovered some ground after the central bank intervened to close down 0.1 percent at 165.90 to the dollar, dealers said.
    "Stocks failed to sustain the recovery recorded in the previous week ... as companies posted mixed performance in the third quarter," one stockbroker told Reuters.
    Dangote Cement, sub-Saharan Africa's leading cement producer and majority owned by billionaire Aliko Dangote, reported just a 1.5 percent rise in pretax profit in the nine months to September.
    Shares in Dangote Cement, which accounts for a third of the stock market's total capitalisation and whose outlook is linked to the overall state of the economy, dropped 1.7 percent, dragging down the index.
    Concerns about the naira amid falling global oil prices also triggered a drop in bond prices as investors demand higher returns to hold Nigerian bonds.
    The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond rose 7 basis point to 12.70 percent on Tuesday, dealers said.
    Two dealers told Reuters that the interbank currency market had seen strong demand for dollars amid tight supply from offshore investors selling assets and repatriating funds.
    The local unit of Italian oil firm Eni sold $25 million alongside the central bank to support the naira.
    Nigeria's stock market rose 47 percent last year, vastly outperforming emerging market peers which were down on average 4.9 percent.
    But this year Nigeria's stock index is down 9.6 percent.
    Other top decliners on Tuesday included cement giant Lafarge Africa and its listed local subsidiary Ashaka Cement, whose shares both dropped 5 percent.