EGX closes in red, loses EGP 29.3bn in market cap

Mohamed Samir
2 Min Read
A staff member of Egypt's stock exchange follows a monitor at the trading hall (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) closes in the red on Wednesday, following a sharp drop in Egypt’s main stocks index EGX30, the most since January 2017, by 3.7%, or 555.35 points, to close at 14,098.56 points, leading declines among Middle Eastern markets on Wednesday.

The total market capitalization lost registered at EGP 29.bn, to close at EGP 785.65bn, down from EGP 814.96bn in Tuesday’s session, increasing the market cap losses in a week to around EGP 74bn.

Meanwhile, the small and mid-cap index EGX70 fell by 3.6%, equivalent to 26.30 points, to close at 694.52 points, and the broader index EGX100 declined by 3.8%, to close at 1,768.19 points. The EGX50 index dropped by 4.9%, to reach 2,209.78 points.

The market recorded a turnover of EGP 966.64m on 270.05m shares on 231,100 transactions.

On Sunday it had plunged 3.6% following the detention of former President Hosni Mubarak’s two sons, as well as that of EFG-Hermes’s non-executive vice chairman and Qalaa Holdings’s investor relations head in a case linked to stock market manipulation.

Qalaa Holdings shares plummeted by 8.9% on Wednesday, while investment bank EFG-Hermes closed up at 0.3%.

The EGX losses come amid an emerging markets crises affected by an escalating trade war between the United States and China, as well as interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve which are attracting funds back to the US.

“Until now our economy is able to deal with the consequences of this negative effect,” Egypt’s Finance Minister Mohamed Moeit said, commenting on the emerging market crisis on Wednesday.

Up till March, the Egyptian gauge has risen 41% since the beginning of 2017 amid bullish sentiment fuelled by the economic reform programme supported by the $12bn International Monetary Fund loan.

Share This Article
Mohamed Samir Khedr is an economic and political journalist, analyst, and editor specializing in geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, and the Eastern Mediterranean. For the past decade, he has covered Egypt's and the MENA region's financial, business, and geopolitical updates. Currently, he is the Executive Editor of the Daily News Egypt, where he leads a team of journalists in producing high-quality, in-depth reporting and analysis on the region's most pressing issues. His work has been featured in leading international publications. Samir is a highly respected expert on the Middle East and Africa, and his insights are regularly sought by policymakers, academics, and business leaders. He is a passionate advocate for independent journalism and a strong believer in the power of storytelling to inform and inspire. Twitter: https://twitter.com/Moh_S_Khedr LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohamed-samir-khedr/