CAIRO: There is no need to cancel Egypt stock market transactions that took place when the bourse was tumbling during political turmoil on Jan. 26 and 27, the country's financial market regulator said on Monday. "There is no justification for canceling the dealings on the 26th and 27th," Ziad Bahaa El-Din said on Arabiya television channel. "The banks were working," he said. "All the dealings that took place during those two days happened in the presence of enough information for all traders in the bourse. Some chose to buy and others to sell." He said any specific complaints about trades on those two days would be examined on a case-by-case basis. The stock exchange has been closed since the market rout and Bahaa El-Din said officials would meet on Tuesday to discuss a resumption of trade. Many investors were badly caught out by the fall in share prices that came as anti-government protesters stepped up calls for president Hosni Mubarak's departure. The stock market's benchmark index fell 6.1 percent on Jan. 26 and another 10.5 percent the next day. Around 100 investors demonstrated in front of the stock exchange in Cairo on Sunday to demand the cancellation of trades they made last month. The investors demanded that the bourse remain shut until the country's situation stabilizes. Market officials say it will only reopen once they are sure banks are functioning properly. "By today or tomorrow, we might know an initial date for the reopening," Hicham Turk, an exchange spokesman, said on Monday. He said the decision would partly take into account the ability of brokerages to deal with margin calls on small investors.
