Egypt’s stock exchange joins global rebound on coronavirus stimulus measures

Egypt’s stock exchange (EGX) rallied Wednesday in the wake of global markets’ massive rebounds following the announcement of stimulus packages to ease the economic blow from the coronavirus pandemic.

The European blue chip index climbed by more than 4.5 percent at the start of trading after U.S. senators and Trump administration officials reached a historic agreement on a $2 trillion economic rescue bill to alleviate the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 11.37 percent, its biggest one-day percentage rally since 1933 as the bill deal injected a shot of optimism into investors.

Back to Egypt, main stock index EGX 30 added 0.97 percent to close at 9,865 points.

The stimulus package announced by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi earlier this week has triggered EGX’s market capitalisation to gain 6.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($412.7 million).

President al-Sisi announced Sunday evening that the central bank would support the bourse to the tune of 20 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.3 billion) as part of stimulus measures to support the economy in the face of the virus pandemic.

Two state-run lenders, the National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr had earlier on Thursday injected 3 billion pounds into the Egyptian stock market. Late Tuesday, the Egyptian government also unveiled cutting a tax on dividends for companies listed on its stock exchange by half to 5 percent and lowering a stamp duty on stock market transactions.

Egypt declared on Tuesday a partial curfew all over the country from 7 pm to 6 am starting from Wednesday as part of efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The stock exchange shortened its trading hours in line with the new preventative measures announced by the state.