Cairo, Feb 21, 2026, 10:55 GMT+2 — The market has closed.
- Egypt’s EGX30 dropped 2.98% on Thursday, closing at 50,667.67 points. Turnover came in around 5.6 billion pounds.
- Late in the week, shares slid as the region followed a wider risk-off turn driven by U.S.-Iran tensions.
- Attention turns to Sunday’s market reopen, with major banks in focus—CIB’s shareholder meeting lands on March 15.
Egypt’s EGX30 index closed out Thursday down 2.98%, ending at 50,667.67 points, according to data from EFG Hermes Research. Trading volume reached roughly 5.6 billion Egyptian pounds. Small- and mid-cap indices also tumbled, both shedding about 3%. The EGX30 tracks 30 of the Egyptian Exchange’s most liquid, free-float stocks. Markets remain closed Saturday, with trading set to resume Sunday.
This shift caught attention as regional investors pulled back, rattled by renewed U.S.-Iran friction and confusing diplomatic cues. The White House described this week’s Geneva talks as yielding only limited progress, and both camps increased military maneuvers in the area. Reuters noted Egypt’s blue-chip index suffered its sharpest intraday drop since June. “Markets that had gained from earnings are now contending with geopolitical uncertainty,” said Milad Azar, market analyst at XTB MENA. Reuters
The EGX is still working through the effects of a recent policy pivot that earlier this month fueled stronger risk appetite. On Feb. 12, Egypt’s central bank delivered a 100 basis-point rate cut—one percentage point—bringing the overnight deposit rate to 19% and the overnight lending rate to 20%. The required reserve ratio for banks was also dropped to 16%, according to Al-Ahram Online. For January, headline inflation came in at 11.9%, with core inflation at 11.2%, the same report noted.
The EGX30 ended the week down 3.1% from its Feb. 15 close of 52,308.32, after a choppy Thursday session. The index started at 52,222.34, climbed as high as 52,399.65, then fell sharply to a session low of 50,651.96. Trading volume reached about 344.6 million shares.
Commercial International Bank (CIB) could see more attention after slipping nearly 2% to 137.5 pounds on Feb. 19, a soft Thursday for the stock. CIB accounts for close to a third of the EGX30, according to exchange data.
CIB, in a filing from Feb. 19, called an ordinary general assembly for March 15. On the agenda: sign-off on 2025 financial statements, a profit appropriation and dividend distribution proposal, plus a capital hike linked to an employee stock plan.
Looking to the week ahead, traders are eyeing whether foreign participation holds up following Thursday’s drawdown. Another key question: will lower policy rates actually lift demand for banks, real estate, and consumer stocks once Cairo trading picks back up?
Policy-wise, it’s a tug-of-war. Looser rates lift credit and riskier assets, yet banks see their net interest margins pinched if yields slip ahead of funding costs. Inflation is the pivot; a jump there, and sentiment can turn on a dime.
Still, geopolitics loom as the bigger threat here. Should U.S.-Iran tensions spike again, the resulting wave of regional de-risking could sap liquidity and knock Egypt stocks back, regardless of what’s happening with domestic rates.
