Egyptian stocks slump following disappearance of airline

Egyptian stocks declined after the nation's flagship airline said one of its passenger planes went missing on the way back to Cairo from Paris.

The EGX 30 Index fell 1.8 per cent just after 11am local time, one of the worst performers in emerging markets.

Commercial International Bank Egypt, the country's biggest publicly traded company that makes up 40 per cent of the benchmark, dropped 2 per cent.

The North African country sent out naval search ships after an EgyptAir flight carrying 69 people disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday morning.

Egypt, which counts on tourism as one of its biggest sources of foreign currency, has seen arrivals slump by more than 40 per cent since the bombing of a Russian jetliner over Sinai in October killed all 224 passengers.

- Bloomberg