Egypt stocks stumble for second session (Photo: Reuters)
Egyptian stocks tumbled further on Wednesday as recent fears regarding foreign investment outweighed optimism over negotiations for a long-awaited International Monetary Fund loan.
The benchmark EGX30 fell 1.25 per cent to close at 5,695.9 points, deepening losses incurred in the previous session after a court ruling sparked concerns over the fate of foreign investment in Egypt.
On Tuesday, an Egyptian court ordered a halt to local operations of international gold producer Centamin, saying the contract signed between the firm and the government was invalid.
The Tuesday arrival of an IMF team in Cairo to restart discussions on a long-awaited $4.8 billion-plus loan was thought likely to spur the market. The Centamin news, however, appeared to put the cap on investor sentiment.
From the 174 stocks traded on Wednesday, 31 gained in value while 123 declined -- a performance reflected in the broader-based EGX70, which slipped a milder 0.92 per cent.
All but two of the market's major shares charted significant losses, with Orascom Construction Industries and Orascom Telecom falling 1.9 and 1.6 per cent, respectively.
Real estate firms were particularly hard-hit, with shares in SODIC and the Talaat Moustafa Group down 2.6 per cent apiece.
Arab Cotton Ginning (up 0.2 pct) and Oriental Weavers (up 0.96 pct) were the only major shares to go against the flow.
Non-Egyptian Arab investors were the day's selling force, offloading LE15 million of shares.
Egyptians, by contrast, were net-buyers to the tune of LE8.08 million, fed by the solid buying appetites of both individual and institutional investors.
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