By Hend El-Behary
After a strong start to the day, Egypt’s stock market finished yesterday’s session in the green following a wave of selling by Egyptian traders.
Meanwhile, Arabs along with foreigners (non-Arab) represented the net sellers for yesterday’s trading.
Egyptian investors represented 89.86 percent of yesterday’s total transactions, making around 39.96 million EGP in sales. Meanwhile Arabs investors accounted for 5.08 percent with 19.9 million EGP worth of purchases and foreigners caught around 5.1 percent equating to 20 million EGP worth of purchases.
The benchmark index EGX 30 edged up by 2.82 percent to finish the day at 5.8 points, EGX 20 index, moreover, rose by 2.7 percent to end today’s trading at 6.8 points.
The broader EGX 70 index for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) sharply rose by 4.5 percent to close at 567 points, while EGX 100 index rose by 3.67 percent.
“It’s a very important day for the Egyptian bourse, as it has recorded the highest trade volume since a long time, exceeding a billion EGP,” said Ashraf Abdel-Aziz head of institutions sales at Arabeya Online Securities.
Abdel-Aziz said that silence and stability outside the United States embassy is the main reason for the rise, along with $2 billion in Turkish loans, which pushed the bourse up, resulting in massive gains.
“Real estate sector represented the strong gainers, while telecommunication witnessed a modest volume of trade, even I expect to rise through the coming era” said Abdel-Aziz.
Shares of various prominent companies saw a sharp rise, with luxury real estate developer Palm Hills, one of the major gainers for yesterday’s transaction, to rise by 7.9 percent, followed by shares in Ezz Steel, which rose by 6.55 percent. Meanwhile, shares for the Commercial International Bank (CIB) climbed by 4.16 percent.
Yesterday also witnessed other winners. Talaat Moustafa Group Holding saw gains of 5.1 percent, private equity leader Citadel Capital common shares edged up by 3.3 percent, Egyptian Financial Group – Hermes Holding Company rose by 3.5 percent.
Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) increased by 2.32 percent and Orascom Telecom Holding (OT) rose by 1.7 percent. Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding remained unchanged.
