Egypt Stocks Rise on Local, Foreign Buying

Egyptian stocks ended up on Sunday, bolstered by atypical purchasing on the part of Egyptian and foreign investors. Arab investors, however, represented net sellers for the day. Egyptian investors represented 87.87 per cent of the day's total transactions, making some LE9.6 million worth of purchases; non-Arab foreign investors, meanwhile, accounted for 4.8 percent of the day's trades, representing some LE3.5 LE million in purchases.

The benchmark EGX30 index rose by 0.91 per cent to close the day out at 5,034.77 points. The EGX20 rose by 1.27 per cent to finish the day at 5,764.59 points, while the broader-based EGX70 index – which tracks small- and medium-sized companies – gained 0.14 per cent to finish up at 453.13 points. Egypt's EGX100, meanwhile, rose by 0.19 per cent on Sunday to alight at 777.54 points.

Several prominent company shares saw sharp rises, with investment house Citadel Capital increasing by 3.34 per cent, Talaat Moustafa Holding by 3.19 per cent, Orascom Telecom Holding by 3.02 per cent, and Orascom Telecom Media And Technology Holding by 1.79 per cent. The day saw several other winners, with Commercial International Bank (CIB) rising by 1.25 per cent; Aamer Group Holding by 1.52 per cent; EFG-Hermes by 0.37 per cent; and luxury property developers Palm Hills by 2.5 per cent.

On the other hand, Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), the market's largest share in terms of market capitalisation, declined by 0.3 percent for the day. "The large amount of recent trading in the bourse's top shares by foreign investors has significantly – and positively – affected market activity," market expert Moustafa Badra told Ahram Online.

He added that a number of blue-chip shares had witnessed sharp increases since Thursday. According to Badra, shares to have seen the highest recent exchange volumes are OCI, Citadel Capital, Orascom Telecom Media And Technology Holding, Orascom Telecom, CIB, Talaat Moustafa Group, EFG-Hermes, Palm Hills and Telecom Egypt.