Egypt’s benchmark declined yesterday, touching its lowest level in two months as jittery investors sold shares in local companies amid heightened protests outside the US embassy in Cairo.
The EGX 30 Index fell 1.1 per cent to 5,662.15. It fell as much as 1.7 per cent, the lowest one-day price drop since July 15. For every one stock that rose, five fell.
About 13 people have been injured since protesters gathered around the US embassy, angered by a film that was seen to insult the Prophet Mohammed and Islam.
“The market has been going through profit-taking since the early morning on the back of protests and clashes in front the US embassy in Cairo,” Wafik Dawood, the director of institutional sales at Mega Investments Securities, based in Cairo, told Bloomberg News. UAE equities rose yesterday amid improved investor sentiment, lifted by banking and telecommunications.
The Abu Dhabi Exchange General Index rose 0.2 per cent to 2,608.75, while the Dubai Financial Market General Index added 0.1 per cent to 1,573.94.
First Gulf Bank, controlled by Abu Dhabi, rose 0.2 per cent to Dh9.91. Union National Bank gained 1.2 per cent to Dh3.18.
The Central Bank plans to launch a discount facility to enable banks to borrow funds cheaply if the global downturn worsens, The National reported on Tuesday.
“Investors are positioning themselves, awaiting for indications from the banking sector in the third quarter,” said Khaldoun Jaradat, a broker at Brokerage House Securities in Abu Dhabi.
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