Egypt stocks struggle on global uncertainty

Egypt's stock exchange is struggling for the second day in a row with global economic uncertainty brought about by the US debt downgrade.

The benchmark EGX30 shed 2.04 per cent to reach 4,701 points on Monday, its lowest level since the second quarter of 2009, when the market felt the effects of the economic crisis sweeping the world at the time.

"The market was not prepared for more problems, it's already suffering from domestic hardships," explained Ashraf Abdel Aziz, head of institutions sales at Arabia Online Securities.

Other Middle East stock markets managed to cushion themselves from the worst impact of the US crisis today, with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar dropping 0.33 per cent, 0.2 per cent and 0.76 respectively. Israel's main index actually gained 1.49 per cent.

Egypt's Bourse has been struggling in the aftermath of January's uprising, with the EGX30 losing 34 per cent of its value since the beginning of the year. The exchange was frozen after its 27 January session for a period of five weeks in the aftermath of the turmoil which forced Egypt's former president to step down.