The Egyptian bourse endured yet another setback on Sunday on the back of political and economic instability in the North African country.

About 130 stocks on the bourse finished in the red in what traders attributed to the continued economic and political strife in the troubled country.

The foremost EGX30 index sagged 1.6 percent to 5.099 points. This amounts to a 6.7 percent plunge since the start of this year.

According to Ahram Online, the turnover stayed weak at LE221 million.

Major shares squandered value with investment holding giant Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), lender Commercial International Bank (CIB) and Talaat Mostafa Group (TMG) plummeting 1.6, 2.1 and 2.3 percent respectively, Ahram Online reported.

“Egypt’s investment environment is very bad,” capital markets expert Mostafa Badra told Ahram Online. “We have a new political crisis every week, and the government’s economic policy has become highly unpredictable.”

Badra stressed last Wednesday’s court verdict that reversed President Muhammed Morsi’s November 2012 resolve to hire a new prosecutor-general. The decision re-kindled fierce discussion around the future of Egypt’s top prosecutor.

“Add to that the instability of the exchange rate against the US dollars and you end up with a market that is highly unattractive to foreign investors,” Badra told Ahram Online.

The future of the Egyptian pound continues to be uncertain as Egypt’s remaining lifelines “needed to support the local currency” are quickly drying up.

According to Associated Press, on Friday Iraq had spurned an appeal from Egypt for a $4 billion bond to be paid into Egypt’s central bank to assist the north African country fix its balance of payments deficit.