File photo: A view from the Egyptian stock market in Cairo November 26, 2012 (Photo: Reuters)
Egyptian stocks closed Sunday trading in the green with the main EGX30 index gaining 0.96 percent to sit at 5,033 points.
Trade volumes, meanwhile, recorded a meagre LE132 million (roughly $17 million), a level unseen since December 2011.
"The stock exchange is in a state of breathless anticipation following violent clashes that erupted in Cairo on Saturday," Ashraf Abdel-Aziz, head of institutional sales at Cairo-based brokerage firm Arabeya Online, told Ahram Online. "This is why turnover is so weak."
Clashes broke out on Saturday evening between protesters and security forces outside Egypt's Supreme Court in Cairo, as well as in several other governorates. On Sunday, a fresh wave of violence erupted between Coptic mourners and security forces in front of Cairo's main Coptic cathedral.
"The recent drop in share prices, however, propped the market up on Sunday," Abdel-Aziz explained.
Egypt's bourse hit a four-month low on Wednesday and has enjoyed a slow recovery since.
EFG-Hermes, Egypt's largest investment bank, registered LE13.5 million in turnover during the week's first trade session, gaining 3.3 percent to close the day out at LE9.71 per share.
On Sunday, the company declared that a merger deal with Qatari investment company QInvest would lapse on 3 May unless it received long-awaited approval from Egyptian regulators.
Orascom Construction Industries and Commercial International Bank gained 1.32 and 1.1 percent, respectively, in Sunday trading.
Non-Arab Egyptian investors were the day's main net-sellers, accounting for 15 percent of total trade.
Short link: