Cairo Stock Exchange — Orascom Construction Drops 6% on EGP 380.7m Turnover as Selling Sweeps EGX
Orascom Construction drew EGP 380.7 million in turnover and fell 6.0% on Sunday, underperforming the 2.14% drop in the EGX 30. The session showed broad risk-off selling, with just 2 gainers against 40 decliners.
|5 min read
The clearest signal from the Egyptian stock exchange today was not just the drop in the EGX 30 index, but the severity of the sell-off in Orascom Construction. The stock fell 6.0% to EGP 690.0 on turnover of EGP 380.7 million, the heaviest cash volume of the session, while the benchmark EGX 30 itself lost 2.14% to 50,344.4 points.
That underperformance matters because Orascom Construction is not a fringe name. It is widely treated as a proxy for project execution, infrastructure spending and broader confidence in Egypt’s real-economy cycle. With only 2 gainers, 40 losers and 2 unchanged stocks out of 44 tracked names, trading on Sunday, June 28, 2026 looked far more like broad de-risking than a routine round of profit-taking.
Market context: heavy selling across the Cairo stock market
The decline in the EGX 30 to 50,344.4 points came in a session where weakness was spread across financials, property, healthcare and industrials. That is why the move in Orascom Construction should not be read in isolation. According to the session data, major decliners included Palm Hills Developments at EGP 14.65 (-3.2%), SODIC at EGP 24.39 (-3.9%), Cleopatra Hospitals at EGP 16.1 (-4.2%) and Ibnsina Pharma at EGP 11.3 (-6.2%).
Turnover patterns reinforced the risk-off tone. Behind Orascom Construction, CCAP traded EGP 335.4 million and fell 3.1%, PHDC saw EGP 270.5 million in turnover while losing 3.2%, and Commercial International Bank slipped 2.0% on EGP 250.0 million. When the market’s most liquid names fall on elevated turnover, that usually points to active selling rather than a simple absence of bids. For anyone tracking EGX today, that distinction matters: the pressure was broad and deliberate.
Why Orascom Construction was hit harder than the index
Orascom Construction’s 6.0% drop to EGP 690.0 on EGP 380.7 million of turnover suggests a sharper reassessment of construction and project-execution risk than the headline index move alone implies. With no company-specific announcement included in the day’s verified data, the market appears to have treated ORAS as a cyclical exposure at a time when Egypt’s macro variables still dominate valuation: financing costs, the pace of public and private investment, and the regional pipeline for infrastructure contracts.
Currency remains central to any Egypt stock market analysis. The USD/EGP rate stood at 49.32, with the dollar down 0.35% on the day, which on the surface looks supportive for local assets. But for a company such as Orascom Construction, investors are not focused only on the spot move in one session. They are looking at margin protection on contracts that may involve imported equipment, foreign-currency inputs and long execution timelines. In a market shaped by multiple EGP devaluations between 2022 and 2024, Egyptian equities are still routinely assessed through both local-currency and hard-currency lenses. A 6.0% drop in ORAS can therefore reflect concerns about earnings quality and margin resilience, not just technical selling.
Global macro did not provide much relief either. Brent crude fell 3.5% on the day to $72.6 a barrel and was down 5.8% on the week, according to the macro data provided, as the recovery in shipping sentiment around Hormuz weighed on oil prices. For Egypt, lower oil can ease part of the external and energy bill over time, which is a macro positive. But in the short term, the oil move coincided with a broader defensive tone in global markets, while gold at $4,096.3 an ounce, up 1.6%, showed that some international capital was still leaning toward safety. In other words, the benefit of softer crude was not enough to offset caution toward cyclical emerging-market names.
Property and banks confirmed the stress signal
The sell-off in Orascom Construction was amplified by weakness in developers, a segment closely tied to domestic liquidity, financing conditions and household confidence. Palm Hills fell 3.2%, SODIC lost 3.9%, Emaar Misr dropped 4.4% to EGP 11.32, and Egyptian Resorts slid 5.2% to EGP 16.18. When developers weaken alongside a major construction contractor, the market is effectively repricing the full real-investment chain, from land monetization to project delivery.
Financials also failed to provide a defensive anchor. CIB, the bellwether of the Egyptian market, fell 2.0% on nearly EGP 250.0 million in turnover, while alBaraka Bank Egypt dropped 5.0% to EGP 20.05. That matters because banks dominate both market capitalization and macro interpretation on the EGX. When banks, property names and construction all decline together, the session takes on a more systemic character. For recent context, see Bourse du Caire — EGX 30 -0,52%, 931 M EGP sur CCAP et les financières divisent le marché.
Supporting stories: almost no upside, little sign of rotation
The fact that the day’s only two gainers rose just 0.3% each says a great deal about the weakness of demand. General Company for Ceramic & Porcelain closed at EGP 30.59, up 0.3%, while Misr Cement (Qena) ended at EGP 167.8, also up 0.3%. Those are too small to suggest a meaningful sector rotation. If anything, they indicate that buyers were selective and cautious rather than stepping in aggressively.
Other notable losers deepened the negative tone. Misr Fertilizer Production Company fell 3.4% to EGP 34.3, Raya Holding lost 3.8% to EGP 7.12, B Investments dropped 4.2% to EGP 46.01, and Egyptian Chemical Industries slid 5.5% to EGP 12.15. When losses spread simultaneously across fertilizers, investment holdings, chemicals, healthcare and real estate, it becomes difficult to argue that the weakness is confined to one isolated theme.
Outlook: what to watch after ORAS’s high-volume drop
