Real estate stocks take the spotlight, boosting EGX trading this week 

Alyaa Stohy
6 Min Read
A general view of the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) in Cairo August 18, 2013. Egypt's stock market fell sharply on Sunday as it resumed trading after hundreds of people were killed in a crackdown by the army-backed government on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. Banks and the stock market reopened for the first time since Wednesday's carnage, with shares rapidly falling 2.5 percent. REUTERS/Louafi Larbi (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST BUSINESS)

Dealers in the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) expected that the upward sloping movement will dominate trading this week, led by real estate sector stocks, awaiting new incentives confirming the exit from the sideways range and entering an upward trend for the market.

Real estate stocks drew the spotlight by the end of last week with good gains for Madinet Nasr for Housing and development (MNHD), Heliopolis Company For Housing & Development (HELI), Talaat Moustafa group, and Palm Hills. The most heavily traded real estate stocks were driven by positive news on the majority of these companies, including HELI, which is preparing to contract with a management company and put part of its shares on the EGX, while Palm Hills and MNHD are about to issue securitisation bonds.

Mohamed Al-Aasar, head of technical analysis at Aman Securities, expected the EGX30 to go for 14050 – 14500 points, during this week’s sessions, with a sideways inclined move.

Al-Aasar pointed out that the market is still affected by some of the previous positive factors such as lowering gas prices and lowering interest rates.

The shares that are expected to lead the upward movement of the stock market during the current week include Palm Hills, which is expected to change hands at EGP 2.17, HELI at EGP 29.25, Orascom Investments at EGP 0.62, SODIC at EGP 15.8, and Pioneers at EGP 5.75. 

He added that the best performers in EGX70 are Al Shams Housing and Urbanization SAE (ELSH), which is expected to trade at EGP 4.3, Canal Shipping Agencies at EGP 10.25, Al-Arabia Shipping at EGP 0.75, and El-Nasr for Clothing and Textiles (CABO) at EGP 0.84. 

He explained that EGX70 targets 530-545 points, and advised traders to decide to buy without hesitation with expectations of a gradual rise.

Horizon Security Brokerage’s Deputy Chairperson Moatasem Shahedy said that the market resumes its sideways trend moving between 13,900 points and 14,300 points, expecting the real estate sector to lead trading this week after rising in last week’s sessions. 

He advised investors to reduce the financial burden on the portfolio and move away from margins to focus on solvent stocks and cash dividends, pointing out that the market supports the medium and long-term investors.

Mohamed Osman, head of technical analysis department at Pharos Holding, said that a potential rebounding attempt could be resumed to approach the resistance level lying at 14,350 and then 14,520 points where the buying power will be examined. Therefore, it is highly recommended to monitor volumes in the coming potential rebounds to judge the strength of buyers and to catch any warning signals that may appear.

 In spite of last session’s green closure, the trading model is still in a bearish set-up as the short Moving Average (MA) is still below the long MA. Hence, Osman sees that they will keep adopting a conservative viewpoint until a clear breach above the predefined resistance level of 14,520 takes place. In other words, they need to see a clear violation above the last explicit peak to revive hopes for a recovery.

Osman advises short-term players to step into a group of selected trades, taking into consideration the level of risk acceptance for each stock separately.

EGX 30 index closed at 14,205.86 points, recording a decline of 0.67%. EGX70 index posted 1.01% gain concluding the period at 534.71 points, while the S&P index rose by 0.69% and concluded the period at 2,103.38 points.

EGX 30 index capped declined by 0.44% and concluded at 17,119.33 points, while the EGX 100 index rose by 0.46% and concluded the period at 1,414.96 points.

Total market capitalisation reached EGP 717.9bn at the end of the period, representing a decrease of 0.21% over the last week.

The total value traded recorded EGP 7.1bn, while the total volume traded reached 1,213m securities executed over 101 thousand transactions last week.

For the week before last, the total value traded recorded EGP 7.8bn while the total volume traded reached 1,392m securities executed over 92,000 transactions.

Stocks trading accounted for 46.45% of the total value traded on the main market, while the remaining 53.55% were captured by bonds over the last week.

Egyptians represented 72.0% of the value traded in listed stocks after excluding deals during the period. Foreigners accounted for 19.7%, while Arabs captured 8.4%. Foreigners were net sellers, with a net of EGP 191.8m, and Arabs were net buyers, with a net of EGP 45m, after excluding deals in listed stocks.

Since the beginning of the year, Egyptians represented 66.7% of the value traded in listed stocks after excluding deals, foreigners accounted for 24.3%, while Arabs captured 9.1%. Foreigners were net sellers by EGP 2,048.6m, and Arabs were net sellers by EGP 503.9m, after excluding deals in listed stocks during since the year started.

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