Egypt Stocks Inch Upwards on Political Calm, Ramadan

Egypt shares rose slightly, with the benchmark EGX30 index recovering – after sustaining morning losses – to close the day up by 0.1 per cent to alight at 4,765.88 points. Trade volumes were relatively small due to the ongoing Ramadan fasting month and the calm political atmosphere, Eissa Fathy, head of securities at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, told Ahram Online.

According to Fathy, the main index was pushed up by strong performances by a handful of bellwethers, including Orascom Telecom, Media and Technology (OTMT), which rose by 5.6 per cent for the day and accounted for some LE76.7 million in the day's turnover. "When the market slows down as it has in recent days, investors agree on a particular share in which to trade in order to raise liquidity," explained Fathy. The broader-based EGX70 index, meanwhile, also rose for the day, inching up by 0.4 per cent.

Egyptian and Arab investors were net buyers on Monday, picking up some LE19.5 million and LE13.1 million worth of shares respectively. Foreign investors, for their part, represented net sellers, unloading some LE32.7 million worth of shares. Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) and Telecom Egypt (TE), meanwhile, rose by 0.6 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively, for the day. OCI boasted the day's highest turnover at LE80 million.

TE, for its part, rose in value on investors' hopes that the company's long-awaited financial results would be positive. Property shares registered mixed results on Monday, with luxury real-estate giants Palm Hills declining by 0.5 per cent while the Talaat Mostafa Group rose by 0.7 per cent. High-cap share Commercial International Bank, meanwhile, was bruised by selling by foreign investors, declining in value by 1 per cent for the day. Of 163 stocks traded on the Egyptian market, 90 registered gains and 51 lost value in a session that saw some LE341.7 million in total daily turnover.