Egypt’s stock exchange main index dives 5.8% in a week

Egypt’s stock exchange (EGX) suffered a significant pullback last week as a jump in coronavirus cases spreading outside China, triggering investors and traders’ fears of a pandemic.

The benchmark EGX 30 index slid 5.19 percent to 13,008.94 points for the week. The broad ranged EGX 100 index also dropped 3.93 percent to 1,311.08 points. The fixed-weighted index EGX 30 Capped dropped 5.8 percent to close the week at 14,756.81 points.

The rapid spread of the coronavirus from China to South Korea, Italy, Iran, and other major economies has driven alarmed governments and people across the globe to implement unusual emergency measures.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in South Korea soared last week to more than 2,300, making it the country with the most confirmed cases outside China. In Italy, the number of people infected surpassed 600. Cases in Iran, New Zealand, and Nigeria were also confirmed during the week.

For the first time, new infections across the globe surpassed last week those in mainland China, the epicentre of the flu-like disease, which emerged two months ago.

Market Cap

Like elsewhere in other stock markets worldwide, pandemic fears have wiped out 28.6 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.8 billion) from the Egyptian stock exchange’s market capitalisation in a week. And more losses are in store on Friday. The market capitalisation incurred a weekly drop of 4.12 percent, according to the EGX’s report.

During the week, the trading volume hit around 7.4 billion pounds, compared with 10.3 billion pounds a week earlier. For the trading volume, it reached around 1.448 million securities from 1.171 million securities a week earlier.

Foreign and Arab investors were net sellers throughout last week of trading on Egyptian stock exchange, capturing 26.2 percent and 9.4 percent of the total market respectively, with a net equity of 162.6 million pounds and 29.9 million pounds, excluding the deals.