Egyptian ExchangeEGXAfrica oldest stock marketEGX 30

The Egyptian Exchange (EGX): Africa's Oldest Stock Market, Explained

Long before most of the world's famous exchanges existed, traders were buying and selling shares in Egypt. The Alexandria bourse opened its doors in 1883, and the Cairo exchange followed in 1903. By the 1940s the combined Egyptian market was among the most active in the world. That makes the Egyptian Exchange, known today as the EGX, the oldest stock exchange in Africa and one of the oldest anywhere on earth, with a history stretching back more than 140 years.

June 7, 2026 · 5 min read · Mansa Markets

That heritage is more than trivia. It tells you something real about the market: Egypt has a deep, established investing culture, a domestic investor base that dominates daily trading, and an exchange that has survived monarchy, revolution, nationalisation, war, and repeated currency crises, and is still standing. In 2026, it is also one of the better performing markets on the continent. This is the guide to understanding it.

What the EGX is today

The EGX is North Africa's largest stock market and the second largest in Africa by value, behind only Johannesburg. Its main benchmark is the EGX 30, a free float index of the thirty most liquid companies, with a base set in 1998. Below it sit broader gauges, the EGX 70 and the EGX 100, which capture the mid and small cap companies and often tell a different, more revealing story than the headline index.

By mid 2026 the EGX 30 had pushed above 52,000 points and brushed record highs near 54,000, having gained roughly 60 percent over the prior twelve months. The total market capitalisation sits around 3.5 trillion Egyptian pounds. The 2025 gain of about 40 percent was not a dead cat bounce. It reflected a broad repricing of Egyptian assets as the economy began to stabilise after a wrenching period of currency devaluation and sky high inflation.

A detail that surprises newcomers: this is overwhelmingly a domestic market. Egyptian investors typically account for around 85 percent of daily trading value, with foreign and Arab investors making up the rest. When you read the EGX, you are reading the conviction of local money first.

The forces driving the market in 2026

Egypt's market tends to move in bigger bursts than its peers, because it is so closely tied to the macro cycle: inflation, the exchange rate, interest rates, and domestic liquidity. Through 2025 and into 2026, several of those forces aligned. The pound's devaluations, painful as they were, cleared a backlog of currency distortion. Inflation, while still elevated, came down hard from its peak. And the central bank held interest rates high, around 19 percent, which paradoxically supports confidence even as it makes equities compete with very attractive savings rates.

The market is also modernising. In March 2026 the EGX launched Egypt's first ever derivatives market, beginning with futures contracts on the EGX 30, a genuine milestone for a frontier market and a sign of growing sophistication. The government has also signalled plans to list state owned companies, including a slate of petroleum businesses, which would deepen the market and give investors new ways in.

The companies that anchor the EGX

If there is one stock that defines the Egyptian market, it is Commercial International Bank, traded as COMI. CIB is the largest constituent of the EGX 30 and the bellwether for the entire market. It is widely regarded as one of the best run banks in the Middle East and Africa, and its share price, which has traded in the range of 125 to 135 pounds in 2026, is the first thing analysts check to gauge sentiment. If you understand one Egyptian stock, make it this one.

Beyond CIB, the market's character comes through in its sector leaders. Banking dominates, but the EGX also offers real estate and development giants like Talaat Moustafa Group, a deep bench of consumer and food names such as Juhayna Food Industries, healthcare through Cleopatra Hospitals, the investment bank EFG Holding, fintech through Fawry and e finance, and heavy industry in fertilisers and electrical cables through names like Abu Qir Fertilizers and ElSewedy Electric. The point worth absorbing is that Egypt's recovery is not just a banking story. The strength in the broader EGX 70 and EGX 100 shows the rally has reached mid sized consumer, healthcare, and industrial companies too.

How a foreign investor approaches Egypt

Egypt is relatively open to foreign investors compared with many frontier markets. International investors can buy most listed shares, and the market's depth in the largest names means liquidity is rarely a problem at the top of the EGX 30. For those who prefer not to pick individual stocks, exchange traded funds tracking the Egyptian market exist, and global frontier and Africa focused funds typically hold a slice of the EGX through CIB and its peers.

The two risks to keep front of mind are the same two that have always shaped this market. The first is the currency. The Egyptian pound has been through repeated devaluations, and a strong year in pound terms can look very different once translated back into dollars, so foreign investors must always read returns through a currency lens. The second is the macro cycle itself. Egypt moves in waves tied to inflation and the exchange rate, which means the market can deliver spectacular runs and equally sharp corrections. Position accordingly, and think in years rather than months.

Why Egypt deserves a place on your radar

Put the pieces together and the case is straightforward. You have the oldest, deepest investing culture on the continent. A market that has just come through its macro reset and is repricing higher. A modernising exchange that now has a derivatives market and a pipeline of state listings. A bellwether bank in CIB that ranks among the best in the region. And a broadening rally that has spread well beyond the blue chips.

Egypt rarely features in the typical pan African investing conversation, which tends to start with Nigeria and Kenya and stop at South Africa. That is precisely the opportunity. The continent's oldest stock market is in one of its stronger phases in years, and most investors are not paying attention.