Cairo Stock Exchange on Thursday halted trading for 45 minutes after the stock market witnessed a sharp decline. It was the first halt since 17 October 2008 during the global financial crisis.
The main index of the Egyptian stock exchange (EGX30) lost more than 6 percent while the secondary index (EGX70) fell by more than 10 percent. These declines come amid popular riots in the past two days.
Shares of heavyweight Orascom Telecom company dropped by 5.8 percent to LE3.72.
The Egyptian stock market posted on Wednesday its biggest drop since November 30 November 2010 after it lost LE29 billion (US$4.9 billion).
