Egyptian stocks fell to the lowest in more than a week after clashes that erupted in central Cairo between supporters and opponents of the ruling military council injured more than 300 people.
The benchmark EGX 30 fell for the fifth day, declining 0.8 percent to 5093.74 at 12:10 pm in Cairo. Twenty one stocks fell, two rose and seven were unchanged. The measure has declined 29 percent this year following the popular revolt that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
"I would say that the weekend events are affecting the market negatively," said Ashraf Akhnoukh, senior equity sales trader at Cairo-based Commercial International Brokerage. "However, it is not that bad as volumes are extremely low so far. The low volumes are a sign of uncertainty from investors, and show that there is no panic."
Protesters used knives and swords in the clashes on 23 July and the army blocked the road leading to the Ministry of Defense in Cairo, Al-Jazeera reported. Al-Arabiya reported that one person was killed and 308 injured during the protests. Egypt's Health Ministry later denied that anyone was killed.
Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf called on political leaders and protesters to work on restoring order in the city, according to a posting by Egypt's cabinet.
Orascom Construction Industries, the biggest publicly traded builder in Egypt, declined 1.2 percent to 264.6 Egyptian pounds. Talaat Moustafa Group Holding, the largest publicly traded real-estate developer in Egypt, fell 1.1 percent to 4.39 pounds.
