The violent clashes in front of the presidential palace Wednesday night affected the stock market negatively on Thursday.

The main index EGX30, which tracks the performance of the top 30 companies, went down by 4.6 percent, losing 233 points to reach 4,838 points, with sales values at LE402.4 million.

The stock exchange halted the trading of 61 companies for half an hour after they passed the allowable percentage decline, which is 5 percent.

The trading screens were covered in red.

The market capitalization lost LE10.4 billion after the close prices of 137 securities went down, while only seven securities went up.

Mohsen Adel, deputy head of the Egyptian Society for the Study of Finance and Investment, said the clashes outside the presidential palace urged investors, particularly foreigners, to liquidate parts of their portfolios out of fear the situation would deteriorate.

Mahmoud Abdel Rahman, investment director at Premiere Company, said foreign institutions went for sale transactions. He expected that the market would continue to be affected by the ongoing political turmoil.

Abdel Rahman said that many securities’ companies asked the exchange to suspend work, worrying that the unrest could push the stock market to collapse.

The recorded transactions of Arab and foreign investors reached LE21.7 million and LE8.5 million respectively on Thursday, while the purchases of Egyptians were worth about LE30.3 million.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm