Emerging-market jitters hit Egypt bourse, EGX 30 falls 1.5%

Egypt’s main stock index EGX 30 plummeted 1.5 percent on Thursday, weakened by global jitters over emerging markets.

The Egyptian benchmark fell to 14,105 points, close to this year’s intra-day low of 14,055 points, as all but seven of the 30 stocks in the index dropped. The index lost 3.6 percent this week.

A Reuters poll of Middle East fund managers, published at the start of this week, found them on balance turning negative towards Egypt for the next three months, given the risk emerging-market turmoil will drive capital out of the country.

However, several fund managers said their positive long-term outlook for Egypt had not changed. MENA Capital called the market’s drop a “passing phase”.

“While the market could continue to trade sideways in the short term, we cannot justify a change in our view on Egyptian equities given current valuations, earnings per share growth, and the medium-term outlook for local interest rates,” Mohamad Al Hajj, head of regional strategy at EFG Hermes, told Reuters.