CAIRO: Shares of Ezz Steel, Egypt s largest steel producer by sales, tumbled to their lowest in more than three years on Thursday as emerging markets dropped, weighing on Egypt s index. Ezz shares, down more than 60 percent this year, plunged 9.83 percent to LE 10.27 ($1.84), their sixth straight session of losses. People are expecting steel prices to go down, but Ezz s decline is a result of across the board selling, said Karim Hosny, trader at Pharos Securities. The benchmark CASE30 index down more than 50 percent this year, shed 4.22 percent to 4,896.53 points. Fear of a global recession battered global stock markets again on Thursday. Investors fled emerging market debt and stocks. Housing shares also tumbled in Egypt. Heliopolis Housing, the worst performer this year on the CASE30 index, dropped 6.33 percent to LE 20.57. It has fallen over 80 percent this year. Shares of SODIC plunged 13.84 percent to LE 63. Real estate stocks have been under pressure for a while because people expect an oversupply in the high end, Hosny said. The Hermes index .HRMS shed 3.34 percent to 444.95 points and the broader CIBC index gained 2.05 percent to LE 271.73. Results coming in the next few weeks should be good and that should support the market, said Mohamed Ashmawy, trader at CIBC brokerage. Fundamentally companies have good growth.
