EGX skyrockets after Morsi ouster

The Egyptian Stock Exchange jumped by 6.4 percent at the start of trading on Thursday as investors took advantage of an atmosphere of optimism to frantically purchase stocks, following Wednesday’s announcement that President Mohamed Morsi had been removed from office and there would be early presidential elections.

Trading was suspended for half an hour at the beginning of the session after a rise in the EGX 30 index exceeded the customary 5 percent in the first minutes of trading, shooting up by 6.38 percent to 5,288 points. The EGX 70 index rose by 5.8 percent to 409 points.

This is the second time the Egyptian Exchange has seen this kind of dramatic rise — the first was in the session following the first presidential elections after the revolution on June 25 2012. The stock exchange also decided to suspend trading for half an hour during that session, as well.

On Wednesday, the EGX 30 revived from an early sharp decline and retreated by 0.32 percent to close at 4,971.06 points, compared to 4,986.81 points on Tuesday.

Market trade volume reached 169,080,121 shares, amounting to LE454,788,797.

While the Egyptian Exchange seems to be benefiting from the political situation for the time being, the recent developments could be interpreted as blow to Qatar, according to the Financial Times. Qatar had given US$8 billion in aid to Morsi’s government. Qatar may have misplaced its bets, according to the FT, pouring billions down the drain in an attempt to buy “political advantage” in Egypt.