Shares of Egypt's Maridive and Oil Services dropped to their lowest level in two years after the price of oil traded in New York fell below US$80 a barrel.
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The shares, listed on the Egyptian Exchange, were down as much as 8.7 per cent during intraday trading to their lowest price since February 2009.
The stock closed at $2.03, a loss of 6.8 per cent for the day.
Crude oil dropped to its lowest level in six weeks on Friday on fresh concerns about Europe's ability to manage debt.
"Negative sentiment is affecting investor behaviour, hence the decline in stock price," said Wafik Dawood, the head of institutional trading at Mega Investment Securities, a brokerage house in Cairo.
Oilfield services companies were hit hard by the global financial crisis, which prompted oil and gas producers to cut spending. The flow of contracts has declined recently after civil unrest toppled leaders in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya.
Maridive has been underperforming on backlog awards from new projects, said George Beshara, an analyst at Pharos Holding.
Mr Beshara last month assigned a "hold" recommendation for the shares in the absence of a clear picture of earnings beyond next year.
As of June, Maridive's construction backlog consisted of two contracts with a total value of $442.8 million. A contract with Saudi Aramco will be completed by the end of this year.
The company's $117m Indian subcontinent project with the Indian state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, which was to be completed by the middle of next year, has been on hold since May.
Egypt's broader market, the EGX 30 Index, was down 2.3 per cent to 4,233.22 points yesterday after the cost to insure the country's debt against default surpassed levels seen during the country's revolution. Five-year credit default swaps reached 489 basis points on Friday, the highest level since 2009. Swaps were at 450 basis points during the revolution.
"Investors are more nervous now, seven months since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak, as the ride is not as smooth as they once thought," Mr Dawood said.
