The Egyptian Exchange has opened Monday's sessions posting gains of EGP 472 million backed by presidential decree to impose a 30-day curfew Port Said, Suez and Ismailia amid the recent violence. The capital market has amounted to EGP 379.439 billion during Monday's opening session, according to data compiled by Amwal Al Ghad at 11:07 a.m. Cairo time (09:07 GMT). The EGX indices opened in green. The main index, EGX30 inched up by 0.22% to 5700.66 p. EGX20 rose by 0.31% to 6524.06 p. Meanwhile, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 went up by 0.28% to 468.08 p. Price index EGX100 edged up by 0.21% to 797.92 p. This was after trading in 92 listed securities; 15 declined, 42 advanced; while 35 keeping their previous levels. During the opening session, the trading volume has reached 6.997 million securities worth EGP 20.238 million, exchanged 1.282 thousand transactions. Late Sunday, the Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi declared a state of emergency and nighttime curfew across three major cities Sunday after violence raged for a third straight day, leaving nearly 50 dead and hundreds injured nationwide. In a televised address Sunday night, the president said the state of emergency, which allows security forces to arrest and detain at will, would cover Port Said, Suez and Ismailia for 30 days. “The protection of the nation is the responsibility of everyone. We will confront any threat to its security with force and firmness within the shadow of the state of the law," Morsi said. The deployment Saturday of government troops to the coastal cities of Port Said and Suez, which have seen some of the worst violence, failed to quell a public backlash against a court verdict and raised doubts about whether Morsi's embattled government could contain the situation. The EGX's opening gains were driven by the non-Arab foreigners which were net buyers seizing 14.48% of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 1.906 million excluding the deals. Meanwhile, Egyptians and Arabs were net sellers seizing 81.34% and 4.18% respectively, of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 1.813 million and EGP 92.701 thousand excluding the deals. Growing frustration The strife in Port Said roughly coincided with the second anniversary of the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak and with a swell of opposition to Islamist rule. In Cairo, Suez and Ismailia, clashes spawned by anniversary protests against Morsi's government on Friday carried into Sunday, and opposition groups called for further protests Monday. At the heart of the crisis is growing national frustration over the pursuit of justice two years after Mubarak's fall. Egyptians across the political spectrum complain that the abusive security forces cultivated under his rule have evaded punishment for crimes committed during the uprising and since his ouster.
