Egyptian Stock Exchange Overcomes Trading Suspension Crisis Caused by Ramses Central Fire

The Egyptian Stock Exchange managed to overcome a one-day trading suspension crisis following the fire incident at Ramses Central, which led to an internet outage in Egypt.


The main index of the stock exchange rose today, Wednesday, with some companies affected by the incident benefiting from an increase in their stocks.

The Egyptian Stock Exchange closed Wednesday's session with collective gains for most of its leading indices, amid purchases from Arab and foreign investors, while local investors leaned towards liquidating their positions. The total trading value reached 4.1 billion pounds, achieving market capitalization gains estimated at 1 billion pounds, rising to 2.355 trillion pounds at market close.

The benchmark index, "EGX 30," recorded a 0.35% increase to settle at 33,152 points, while the "EGX 30 Equal Weight Index" rose by 0.31% to close at 41,293 points. Additionally, the "EGX 30 Total Return Index" gained 0.34% to reach 14,893 points at the close.


The "EGX 70 Equal Weight Index" saw a slight decline of 0.33% to close at 10,090 points, while the "EGX 100 Equal Weight Index" marginally increased by 0.01% to reach 13,654 points.


The Sharia-compliant companies index showed a positive performance with a 0.14% increase, closing at 3,483 points.


Market data indicated a dominance of foreign and Arab purchases in the trading activity, while Egyptian investors aimed to profit through selling operations. This performance reflects an improvement in foreign investors' sentiment towards the Egyptian market, despite the cautious approach still prevalent among local investors.

The Egyptian Stock Exchange had announced the resumption of trading starting from today, Wednesday, July 9th, following the Ramses Central fire crisis. In this context, it emphasized the importance of wisdom and prudence in making investment decisions, urging all traders to avoid emotional decisions and rely on objective analysis and reliable data in evaluating opportunities and risks.

The massive fire broke out on Monday evening at the Ramses Central building in central Cairo, one of the largest communication centers in Egypt. The fire destroyed main cables and servers on the seventh floor, causing a partial disruption of landline internet services and fixed-line telephones, as well as affecting financial services such as ATMs and electronic payment applications.

The fire led to the suspension of trading at the Egyptian Stock Exchange on Tuesday, impacting aviation services and banking transactions. This prompted the Central Bank to extend the working hours of some bank branches until 5 p.m., while the House of Representatives called for urgent measures to restructure the digital infrastructure and activate protection systems to prevent similar incidents, focusing on compensating the affected individuals.