Egyptian stocks hit a two-year low Tuesday as traders returned from a week-long religious and national holiday to find little to cheer about amid a financial crisis that has shaken global markets.
The Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange’s benchmark CASE 30 Index was down by over 16.6 percent, to 5,888.59, in mid morning trading, a drop that analysts attributed to the market reacting to precipitous slides in other world markets over the past few days.
So far this year, the CASE is down over 4,650 points, or 44 percent.
CASE officials temporarily halted trading after shares of several major companies plummeted below the 10 percent threshold, Egypt’s Middle East News Agency reported.
Analysts said some companies saw their shares drop by as much as 40 percent, albeit on low volume trading.
“There is an element of panic in the market,” said Wael Ziada, head of Egypt research with EFG Hermes. Ultimately, “it’s not very different from the losses in the markets, in general, over the past few days.”