Egypt Market Watch | May 18th 2015: Equity equities surge by EGP 20.3 billion…

Cairo, Egypt (Capital Markets in Africa):- Egypt’s stock market indices rose and market capitalisation added about EGP 20.3 billion to close at EGP 501.590 billion amid announcement that the government decided to delay implementation of a much debated capital gains tax, which traders have criticised on the grounds that it is keeping away potential investment.

The benchmark index EGX30 witnessed its biggest gains in 22 months, gaining 6.5 percent to close at 8,798.17 points (-1.44 percent year-to-date performance). During today’s trading session the Egyptian Exchange management suspended trading session for 30 minutes after the benchmark index EGX30 rose by 5%.  On the same note, the small and mid-cap index EGX70 surged by 7.47 percent to settle at 469.08 points (-17.04 percent year-to-date return), and the broader index EGX100 went up by 6.47 percent to 979.8 points (-10.15 percent year to date performance). Likewise, the EGX20 capped index rose by 7.46 percent to close at 9,104.08 points (-9.24 percent year-to-date).

In the same positive mood, Monday’s turnover amounted to EGP 785.4 million, while traded volume reached 222.3 million shares. National and Arab traders ended as net buyers by EGP 26.9 million and EGP 49.9 million respectively, while foreign traders were net sellers by EGP 76.8 million. Institutions, especially nationals and foreigners, were net buyers, while retail traders were net sellers.

The market sentiment was positive today (measured as gainers/losers ratio), Out of the 186 securities traded today, 167 moved up, four moved down and 15 remained unchanged. On the one hand, out of the gainers, the top performance were TransOceans Tours surged by 11.11 percent to close the day at US$0.10 and El Arabia for Land Reclamation went up by 10.00 percent with closing price of EGP 8.69. Similarly, International Agricultural Products appreciated by 10.00 percent to close at EGP 2.09 and Cairo Oils & Soap advanced 9.96 percent to trade at EGP 7.73. On the other hand, out of the losers the top losers were Egyptian Real Estate Group Bearer Shares, East Delta Flour Mills, Lecico Egypt and Qatar National Bank Alahly Egypt losing 2.06 percent (to close at EGP 13.81), 1.28 percent (to settle at EGP 39.96), 0.88 percent (to trade at EGP 6.77) and 0.77 percent (to close at EGP 38.68) respectively.

From the sector perspectives, all the sector indices went up, Basic Resources, Real Estate, Chemicals, Telecommunications and Financial services excluding Banks sectors were  highest gainers with 9.71% (-18.88 percent year-to-date), 8.83 percent (-3.81 percent year-to-date), 8.48 percent (-9.69 percent year-to-date), 8 percent (-27.58 percent) and 7.64 percent (-16.56 percent) respectively. 

Analysts view that it is likely the EGX30 index to resume its rise in coming sessions to shoot above the resistance area of 8,830 to 9,000 points and this will signal an end to the downward trend and may push the index higher towards 9,150 to 9,300 points, while current support stands at 8,260 points.