Egypt Stocks tumble after Prosecutor Deadly Attack

Stocks inched lower Monday after a bomb attack that killed the country’s Prosecutor General, Hisham Barakat.

The stock market incurred losses during closing session totalling 4.4 billion Egyptian pounds (US$576,6 million) triggered by local and Arab sellers.

The prosecutor’s convoy was hit Monday morning near an army college in Heliopolis, a well-to-do suburb of north-eastern Cairo.

A little-known group calling itself the “Giza Popular Resistance” claimed responsibility for the attack.

Hisham Barakat was appointed as Prosecutor General in July 2013.

Indices

The benchmark index, EGX30 pushed down 1.65 percent to 8371.53 points. EGX20 also slipped 1.56 percent to 8543.63 points.

Meanwhile, the mid- and small-cap index EGX70 dropped 1.34 percent to 444.69 points.

The price index, EGX100 moved lower 1.12 percent to 941.77 points.

The market capitalisation has recorded 485,174 billion pounds during the closing session of Monday.

Turnovers

On Monday, the bourse’s trading volume has reached 180,811 million securities, with turnovers closed at 818,631 million pounds exchanged through 16,749 thousand transactions.

Also during the closing session, 178 listed securities have been traded in; 106 declined, 16 advanced; while 43 kept their previous levels.

Investors’ Activities

Local and Arab investors were net sellers Monday seizing 77.24% and 6.12% respectively of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 48,291 million and EGP 33,496 million, respectively, excluding the deals.

On the contrary, the non-Arab foreign investors were net buyers capturing 16.64% of the total market, with a net equity of EGP 81,788 million, excluding the deals.