Thursday, Aug 15, 2013
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Egypt's stock market will be shut on Thursday amid escalating unrest there after a crackdown to end Muslim Brotherhood protests sparked violence that left hundreds of people dead across the north African country.
Egypt's interim president has declared a month-long, national state of emergency, raising fears of extended conflict that may further hurt investor confidence in the Arab state's already struggling economy.
The stock market will be closed on Thursday and likely to reopen on Sunday, a person at the Egyptian Exchange, who declined to be identified, said.
The market's unscheduled shutdown has raised concerns, especially with foreign investors, who were reminded of a near two-month suspension in trading in early 2011 following the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak.
"Shutting the market makes risk committees very nervous indeed," said Emad Mostaque, a strategist at Noah Capital Markets. He reckons "there are hundreds of millions of dollars already waiting to get out of Egypt when EGP convertibility improves."
After tumbling about 50% in 2011, the market rebounded last year amid signs of some political stability, but renewed unrest and concerns about the local economy have reignited investor worries--even forcing index compiler MSCI to put the emerging market on watch for a possible downgrade earlier this year.
The benchmark EGX 30 stock index fell 1.7% on Wednesday.
Write to Nikhil Lohade at nikhil.lohade@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
15-08-13 0818GMT
