Egypt: equities soar on political hopes | beyondbrics | News and views on emerging markets from the Financial Times – FT.com

Source: Egyptian Stock Exchange


At last some good news from Egypt’s battered financial markets. Stocks soared on Thursday, with a 7 per cent bounce in the EGX 30 index, after Wednesday’s demonstrations on the first anniversary of the anti-Mubarak uprising passed off peacefully.


That extends this year’s gains to over 22 per cent, making Cairo the world’s second best-performing equity market in $ terms after another recovery story – Hungary (on 24 per cent). But how long can it last, given the manifest economic and political challenges?


There was no mistaking the investor enthusiasm on Thursday with the authorities having to suspend trading for 30 minutes after the EGX 100 Index rose 5 percent. Orascom Telecom, a bellwether, jumped nearly 10 per cent. EFG-Hermes, the investment bank, was up 9 per cent.

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