Cairo, Egypt - Egyptian stocks were hammered for the third consecutive day on Tuesday, registering an eight per cent loss over three days of political unrest. The main EGX30 index, measuring the performance of the heavyweight stocks, lost a significant 2.8 % on Tuesday, after falling by as much as 3.5% in the middle of the session. Raging protests and sit-ins in Cairo's iconic Tahrir square and around key cities like Suez and Alexandria, despite official promises to meet the urgent demands of protesters, weighed in heavily.

Arabs and institutions were the only net buyers on Tuesday while Egyptians and non-Arab foreigners were net sellers.

The main EGX30 index of heavyweight stocks closed at 4,971 on Tuesday, breaking the bottom psychologically important 5,000 points barrier.

The index is only 100 points above its lowest close of 2011 in early May, and is now nearly 700 points below the close of 27 January when trading was suspended for nearly two months at the height of protests that overthrew former President Hosni Mubarak and his regime.

The main index has now lost almost 30% of its value in 2011.

The EGX70 of small and medium shares, the usual preferred target of Egyptian retail investors, fell even harder on Tuesday, losing 3.53%.

EGX70 stands currently at 584 points, after having broken the psychological barrier of 600 points. EGX70 is almost 19% down for the year.

The small and medium share index, has outperformed the main index since the resumption of trade on the Egyptian bourse on 23 March after a 55-day halt during the unrests.

The price weighted index, the EGX100, which is down nearly 23% for the year, lost 2.93% on Tuesday.

EGX100 closed just above 900 points on Tuesday at 903.

Total deal on Tuesday came around US$101 million.

Only 8 shares rose on a dreadful day for stocks while as much as 177 fell, and 4 finished unchanged.

In the meantime Egyptian stock market authorities have confirmed that trading will not be halted again in the market for any reason and under no circumstances, after individual investors called for the move to stop big falls coinciding with the ongoing protests in the country.

Egyptian shares seem to be heading now for a fourth consecutive overall weekly negative performance, despite a generally good showing for global stocks over the same period.

If stocks fall on Wednesday, it will be the first time in post-revolution Egypt, that the market would have fallen for four straight sessions.

Pana 13/07/2011