Egypt’s benchmark stock index may extend losses that made it the world’s worst performer this year after a monthlong suspension ends on March 6 amid political unrest in the Middle East.
The EGX 30 Index slid 16 percent in the week before the bourse stopped trading on Jan. 27 because of a popular revolt that ended the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak two weeks later. That brought the drop for the year to 21 percent. Dubai’s DFM General Index closed yesterday at the lowest since June 2004 and the Bloomberg GCC200 Index of companies in the Persian Gulf lost 6.3 percent in February.
Tourists fled Egypt as protests turned violent, companies closed and the government’s borrowing costs rose. Corporate profits may drop, meaning the EGX 30 needs to fall a further 13 percent to trade in line with the average price-to-earnings ratio of Middle East and North Africa markets, investment bank AlembicHC said in a report yesterday. The regulator is seeking to stem a slide by limiting daily share moves.
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