CAIRO: The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) lost ground on Thursday, hammered by an investor bearish sentiment over wide-scale militant attacks in Egypt’s restive North Sinai on Wednesday.
Military spokesman announced that more than 100 militants were killed after simultaneous attacks on around 19 military checkpoints in North Sinai, killing 17 army soldiers early on Wednesday.
Local institutions’ sell-offs weighed on the benchmark index EGX30, which retreated 0.68 percent to end at 8,315 points, down from 8, 371 points on Monday.
The EGX was officially shut on Monday and Tuesday, on the occasions of June 30 second anniversary and the start of the new fiscal year 2015/2016 on July 1.
Further, the small and mid-cap index EGX70 retreated 0.55 percent to end at 442.2 points, compared to 444.7 points in its last session. The broader index EGX100 also fell by 0.56 percent to close at 936.5 points.
Market capitalization shed around 1.2 billion EGP ($157.22 million,) totaling 484 billion EGP, down from 485.2 billion EGP Monday.
The market bellwether, CIB, which comprises more than 40 percent of the benchmark weight, fell by 0.23 percent to close at 56.32 EGP per share, compared to 56.45 EGP per share.