Egypt's benchmark stock index have tumbled more than 2 per cent as clashes between protesters and security forces entered their second day.
The EGX30 index is trading 2.4 per cent down at 4,025.8 points an hour and a half into Sunday's session.
On Saturday, a security crackdown on protesters on Cairo's Tahrir Square developed into clashes that spread to several Egyptian cities and left two dead and more than 700 injured. Clashes are continuing in the streets around Tahrir.
"These are bad times," said Khaled Naga, a senior broker with Mega Investments, adding that even after a thousands-strong demonstration on Friday went relatively peacefully, there were expectations that the market would decline.
"All things considered, this is a reasonable decline," said Naga. "We were expecting worse — maybe 5 per cent."
Shares of Commercial International Bank were down almost 2.2 per cent to LE23.22 while Orascom Construction Industries' shares were off 3.24 per cent to LE220.2.
Of the 150 listed stocks, just a handful are showing gains, with sectors experiencing across the board losses in Sunday trade. Current turnover is LE115.7 million.
Brokers said continued unrest in the capital would likely only add to the drop and expected that the market's support point — where it could bounce back — could be around 3,800 points.
But hitting that level would involve a number of days of heavy losses and so far the Egyptian market has shown a surprising ability to bounce back despite the continuing unrest and tension in the nation.
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