Egypt Watch

Egypt’s stock exchange tumbles with the second filling of Renaissance Dam

Indices of the Egyptian stock exchange fell sharply early on Tuesday with low value trading and Arab investors’ attitude to sell after the Ethiopian declaration it had started the second filling of the Renaissance Dam.

In the first hour, the main Egyptian index EGX30 fell by 1.88 per cent, worth EGP 236.3 million, while the index of average shares fell by 3.34 per cent and the widest one EGX100 by 3.4 per cent. Egypt’s stock lost about EGP 12.3 billion in the first hours of trading, and the stock’s administration suspended trading of 37 stocks for 10 minutes after sharp decline of more than five per cent.

The International Commercial Bank shares fell by 1.3 per cent, Talaat Moustafa Group by 4.6 per cent, Fawry by 1.8 per cent, Elsewedy Electric by 2.6 per cent, Pioneers Holding Group by 4.7 per cent, Belton Financial by 2.6 per cent. Rania Yakoub, chairwoman of Three-Way Brokerage, told Reuters that what happened was fear deals by individual investors who resorted to sell their shares.

The Egyptian ministry of irrigation and water resources had earlier announced that it received an official letter from Ethiopia notifying Egypt of the second filling. The ministry said that it referred the letter to the UN Security Council to notify it before the urgent session over the Renaissance Dam crisis which will be held on Thursday.