Egyptian Stocks: Ezz Steel and Maridive & Oil Services

Egypt’s benchmark EGX 30 Index (EGX30) slumped 1.9 percent to 4,031.6 at the 2:30 p.m. close in Cairo, the lowest level in almost five months. That brought the gauge’s drop to 8.8 percent this week, the most since March 2011.

The following shares were active on the Egyptian Exchange. Stock symbols follow company names.

Ezz Steel (ESRS) declined 1.6 percent to 5.58 Egyptian pounds, the lowest level since January. The Arab country’s biggest steel manufacturer retreated for a fourth day after New York-based EVA Dimensions LLC reduced it to underweight from hold.

Maridive & Oil Services SAE (MOIL EY), an offshore services company, retreated 1 percent to 99 cents, the lowest close since the shares were listed in 2007. Oil futures tumbled as much as 2.3 percent to $79.92 a barrel in New York, the first time the contracts have fallen below $80 in eight months, as U.S. inventories surged.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ahmed A. Namatalla in Cairo at anamatalla@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at cmaedler@bloomberg.net