Egypt’s stock exchange falls 4% in midday over coronavirus fears

Egypt’s stock exchange (EGX) dropped in midday trade on Sunday as new coronavirus cases surged in the North African country.

The benchmark EGX 30 index went down 3.97 percent to 11,857 points. The broad ranged EGX 100 index also fell 2.5 percent to 1,235 points.

Egyptian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Saturday 33 new cases of coronavirus on a River Nile cruise ship. Of 12 suspected cases among the crew announced on Friday, 11 were tested negative, the ministry said, but would nevertheless be quarantined for two weeks.

The first cases emerged after a Taiwanese-American woman who had been on the cruise tested positive for the coronavirus upon her return home. Of the 45 suspected cases from the boat announced over the past two days, 19 were foreign nationals.

The ship arrived in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor on Thursday from Aswan, further upstream, and was towed to a position outside the city and placed under quarantine, state media reported. In total, 171 people were on board the boat, including 101 passengers and 70 crew.

Market Cap

The flu-like pandemic fears have driven the EGX’s market capitalisation to incur midday losses worth 21 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.3 billion).