(AFP Photo)
The Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) shed approximately EGP 9.23bn the day after the release of “Islamic State” in Libya’s video of the decapitation of 21 Coptic Egyptians.
The benchmark index EGX-30 dropped by 2.04% reaching 9585.92 points. Decline was also witnessed in the broader index EGX-100 and the small and medium enterprises index EGX-70, both inching down by 1.74% and 2.38%, respectively.
The trading was delayed for a minute, mourning “mourning Egypt’s innocent victims”.
“EGX offers its sincere condolences to the families of the innocent victims and for all the Egyptians concerning this great loss,” an official statement from EGX read. On 1 February, the Egyptian Stock Exchange also delayed the trading to mourn the “military martyrs”.
The trading day closed with 13 gainers, 156 decliners and 17 unchanged. Egyptian and Arab investors were more inclined to buy stocks while foreigners opted to sell.
On Sunday, Minister of Petroleum Sherif Ismail met with EGX chairman Mohamed Omran. The two parties discussed how oil companies can make use of the EGX’s financial structure and how to provide funds for these companies, without further burdening the state treasury.
“We are holding talks with the government to offer shares of state-owned companies, especially in the electricity and oil sectors, as well as holding talks with companies that meet the conditions so that they can return to the market, while offering facilitations to these companies,” Omran said.
Ismail added that the Ministry of Petroleum is conducting studies on its assets portfolio to increase its income and manage its portfolio.
