Corporate earnings, business update, dividend, stock split, bonus, or any new acquisitions, in stock markets, every corporate action can trigger reaction. But what happens to exchanges across the world when protesters hit the street?
From the Arab Spring to Hong Kong’s 2019 protests and Greece’s anti-austerity movement between 2010 and 2012, history offers several examples of mass demonstrations that coincided with significant market fluctuations.
Arab Spring impact on stock market
Arab Spring was a wave of pro-democracy protests and uprisings that took place in the Middle East and North Africa between 2010 and 2011. The wave started with protests in Tunisia, and spread to Egypt. It even led to regime change in the two countries. It also inspired similar attempts in other Arab countries too.
The protests affected the country’s markets as Egypt’s benchmark index recorded its biggest drop in two years on January 27, 2011, reported CNBC.
The stock market fell more than 10%. EGX 30, the primary benchmark stock market index of the Egyptian Exchange, closed down 10.5% on Jan 27, 2011. The market also fell nearly 6.25% just 15 minutes into the session. THe stock market also saw two months long suspension during the unrest.
Hong Kong protest and stock market turmoil
A bill, proposed in 2019, to pave the way for extradition of Hong Kong citizens to mainland China, sparked a massive protest that saw violent clashes, alleged police brutalities, and garnered global attention. The bill was later withdrawn in October, but the massive protest coincided with steep decline in the Hong Kong stock market exchanges.
According to a Bloomberg report, Hong Kong protest coincided with nearly 12% decline in Hang Seng index between July 2 and August 14, 2019. More than $ 600 billion of stock market value was erased between July and August in the year.
Greece anti-austerity protest
Greece saw huge public protest against the austerity measures implemented by the Greek government. The prolonged period of mass uprisings in the first wave of protests in Greece started in May 2010 and continued till mid 2010. A second wave of protest started in May 2011 and remained till 2014.
During the first wave of protest, Greece stock market exchange, ATHEX Composite fell nearly 17.18% between May 4 and May 17, as per Yahoo.com data. Severe economic hardship, deep public spending cuts, and tax hikes imposed during the Greek government-debt crisis sparked the anti-austerity protest.
