Egypt’s stock market fell nearly LE2 billion during the beginning of Monday’s trading session due to mass sales by Egyptian investors on both of the market’s indices.
Over the course of a few hours, market capital fell to LE360.3 billion from LE362.3 billion at the closure of Sunday’s session.
Fears surfaced among investors as Egypt seems to be heading toward another political crisis following the election of an Islamist-dominated assembly that will write the country’s new constitution, and harsher rhetoric traded between the country’s biggest political power, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the ruling generals of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
As a damage-control measure, stock market administrators halted the trading of shares of eight companies for half an hour after the broader index plunged over 5 percent at the start of the day.
Shares of major and leading companies lost value nearly across the board, with shares of Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding losing a value of 14.2 percent, declining to LE1.37 a share; shares of Palm Hills Developments experiencing a decline of nearly 4.49 percent, falling to LE1.7 a share; and Orascom Telecom Holding shares falling 1.21 percent, bottoming out at LE4.08 per share.
Translated from MENA
