CAIRO: As street battles in downtown Cairo continue, Egypt's stock market continued its downward spiral, dropping to the lowest level in nearly one month. At least 10 protesters have been killed by the military since clashes erupted on Friday morning after the peaceful sit-in blocking the country's cabinet was attacked. The drop in the index has left many worried that the struggle to regain Egypt's already weakened economy could still be far in the future. Egypt's largest publicly traded builder, Orascom Construction, fell to its lowest level since November 23. Commercial International Bank (CIB) fell the most in one week. According to Bloomberg news agency, the EGX 30 index lost 3.4 percent as of around 1 PM on Sunday. That was the largest drop since November 22, when clashes between police and protesters were ongoing near Cairo's Tahrir Square. Already this year, the revolution and near monthly violence has left the economy struggling. Tourism is down one-third, at least, the ministry of tourism reported last week, and financial experts are worried that continued violence will stall any possible recovery, “in the near future,” a leading stock market trader told Bikyamasr.com Bloomberg reported that the fiscal year ending in June saw the economic growth tank from 5.1 percent to 1.8 percent. “Investors were hoping for more stability amid phase two of the elections, and this weekend violence killed these hopes,” said Wafik Dawood, director of international sales at Mega Investments Securities in Cairo. The confrontation with the military “could lead to more escalation,” he said. On the ground near Tahrir, protesters are pushing forward with what they have called an unfinished revolution and the violence meted out to them by the military has shown “that we have to fight them anywhere to change this country,” protester Amr told Bikyamasr.com. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/IwB5N Tags: Cairo, Clashes, Economy, Stock Market, Tahrir Section: Business, Egypt, Latest News
