Egyptian stocks dropped by nearly 3% on Sunday, the first day of the new five-day trading week in the North African country, on the back of the border tension between Egypt and Israel.
Cairo has demanded an official apology for Israel’s killing of five security personnel near their joint border in Sinai on Thursday, saying Tel Aviv’s expression of regret for the loss of lives was not enough.
Global economic crisis, ranging from worries about the strength of the US economy and the widening European debt crisis, also weighed in on investors.
Large caps were hardest hit on Sunday, losing 3.24%, while small and medium shares lost 2.75%.
The main EGX30 index, measuring the performance of the heavyweight stocks, closed on Sunday at 4,593, way off the 5,000-point psychological barrier.
The index had fallen below 5,000 initially, due to the tense political atmosphere in the country.
The main index, the preferred target of institutions and foreigners, has now lost 36% of its value for the year.
The EGX70 of small and medium shares, the preferred target of Egyptian retail investors, was also a big loser on Sunday, closing at the 550 mark and now down 24% for the year.
Finally, the price weighted index, the EGX100, which is now down nearly 28% for the year, finished 3.06% lower on Sunday.
EGX100 now stands at 836 points, near a two-and-a-half year low, like the rest of the key indices of the Egyptian market.
In a dismal day for stocks Sunday, only 18 shares rose, as much as 153 fell, and 8 remained unchanged
