Church bombing weighs on EGX, benchmark dips 1.5%

CAIRO –5 April 2017: The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) extended its mixed performance during Thursday mid-session, amid investors’ bearish sentiment on the back of terrorist bombing of Tanta Coptic Church Sunday morning.

The blast left more than 25 dead and 71 injured. Another explosion was reported in front of a church in Alexandria.

The benchmark index EGX30 breached below the 13,000 barrier after losing 1.54 percent to hit 12,897 points at 1:30 pm (Cairo time).

“The blast triggered more selling pressures and weighed further on the benchmark index which started to lose momentum since Thursday’s session,” Head of Technical Analysis at Cairo Capital, Adham Gamal El-Dein, told Egypt Today.

There is no sign that the EGX would hold above 13,000 point, he said. “A breach below this level, would lead the index toward 12,900- 12,750 points.”

On the other hand, the small and mid-cap index EGX70 rose 0.17 percent to hit at 587.7 points, while the broader index EGX100 added a slight 0.19 percent to end at 1,350 points.

Market capitalization lost about 7.3 billion EGP ($405.6 million,) totaling 657.7 billion EGP.