CAIRO – Egypt’s benchmark stock index fell plunged within minutes of the start of trade Thursday as deadly soccer riots the night before left 74 dead and rekindled fears of fresh instability akin to the unrest that has battered the country and its economy in the year since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.
The benchmark EGX30 index shot down 4.58 percent to 4,473 points by 10:45 am local time before paring losses. By 12:30 p.m., the index was down 2.5 percent, at 4,570 points.
The declines halted a rally in the market over the past week that had been fueled by newfound optimism after the peaceful passing of the one year anniversary of the Jan. 25 uprising that pushed Mubarak from power. Investors had also found cause to cheer in the convening of the country’s first post-Mubarak parliament — a legislature that was seated after Egypt’s freest elections in decades.
But the riots by football fans late Wednesday in the Mediterranean city of Port Said reignited simmering criticism of the country’s military rulers, with witnesses saying the police stood idly by while the violence broke out after the match. Parliament convened an emergency session — a move also mirrored by the Cabinet.
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