The Egyptian Exchange has suspended 26 firms with small capitalisation after their trade and prices behaved irregularly over the last three to four months, said its chairman Maged Shawky said.

'Either there was speculation or something we don't know,' Shawky said. 'The rise is some share prices exceeded 500 per cent, and some shares had PE (price to earnings) ratios of 180,' he added.

The suspended shares represent two per cent of trading volume and some 2.5 per cent of the stock market's total capitalisation, so the suspension hasn't affected overall volume by much, Shawky told Reuters by telephone.

He said the firms have been asked to respond to a series of questions. 'The suspension length depends of when they reply.'

Egyptian stocks on the exchange must all abide by new, tougher listing rules by the end of the of the year or be delisted, Shawky added.-Reuters