Broad Losses Hit Egypt’s Stock Market as Tourism, Building Materials Lead Declines

Egypt’s stock market sectors ended Wednesday’s trading session under broad selling pressure, with all sector indices closing in negative territory as investors reduced positions and took profits.

The tourism and entertainment sector, along with building materials, recorded the sharpest declines, each falling 4.9% during the session amid selling activity targeting several leading and mid-cap stocks.

The non-banking financial services sector ranked as the third-largest decliner, dropping 3.4%, followed by the trade and distribution sector, which fell 3.1%. The healthcare and pharmaceuticals sector also posted losses of 2.9%.

Negative performance extended across several other sectors, including textiles and durable goods, healthcare services, telecommunications, media and information technology, and food, beverages and tobacco, with losses ranging between 2.4% and 2.5%.

Major market-weight sectors were also affected. The basic resources sector declined by 2.3%, while real estate shares dropped 2.2% and the education services sector slipped 2%.

The banking sector ended lower by 1.7%, while industrial products and automobiles services declined 1.5%. Both the energy and support services sector and the engineering construction sector fell by 1.3%.

Despite the widespread sell-off, the transportation and shipping services sector recorded the smallest decline, losing only 0.9%, limiting its losses compared with other market segments.

The sector performance reflected broad selling pressure across listed economic activities on the Egyptian Exchange, as investors moved toward profit-taking and reduced buying exposure, resulting in declines across all sector indices without exception.

The market capitalization of listed companies declined by around EGP 74 billion by the end of trading, reaching EGP 3.687 trillion, amid total market transactions worth approximately EGP 101.4 billion, including bond and treasury bill trades as well as ownership transfer deals.

Stock market transactions accounted for nearly EGP 10.7 billion. The benchmark EGX30 index fell by 2.13%, closing at 51,256.65 points.

The EGX70 index, which tracks small and mid-cap stocks, declined by 2.4% to reach 15,206.48 points, and the broader EGX100 index also recorded losses, dropping by 2.55% to close at 20,911.03 points.