Market report: EGX30 down 2 per cent after Tahrir tensions

With the return of political tension, Egypt's bourse is flooding back into the red with all sectors affected

With renewed political tension, Egypt's benchmark stock index dropped 2.01 per cent to reach 5.285.19 points today. Heavyweights like Orascom Constructions Industries, the Commercial International Bank and Orascom Telecom ended the day on a red note, triggered by foreign sales.
The trend started with the early morning trading. "We expected blue chips, which were doing well yesterday, to decline today, based on selling data. When the clashes happened, we were sure this would be the result," Ashraf Abdul Aziz, head of institutions sales at Arabia Online Securities, told Ahram Online. “What we're seeing in the market is clearly because of political tensions following the Tahrir events and clashes between protesters and security”
The stock exchange went down across the board, in practically all sectors, with wider stock indexes, the EGX70 and EXG100, dropping 2.5 per cent and 2.3 per cent respectively. Of 186 listed stocks, 174 dropped in value and 6 rose, with six remaining stable.
In a day that has seen a LE 998.5 mn turnover, Egyptians dominate the market with 89.1 per cent. They were the net buyer of LE 4mn, while the participation of foreigners was 8.3 per cent; so limited, they became the net seller of LE 13.4mn. According to Mohamed Sediq, the head of research at Prime securities, "Foreigners will not represent a large proportion again till next September due to political tensions."
Real estate shares are once again in the red despite news of the Egyptian lawyer Hamdy El-Fakharani dropping his cases. TMG plunged by 4.6 per cent, Palm Hills recorded a 6.4 per cent drop and SODIC a 6 per cent one. "The attractive prices of these companies are no longer available and they will return to the normal levels," Sediq says.
The heavyweight share Ezz Steel also slumped by 5.1 per cent but Pioneers Holding took the first place in the losers list with 8.3 per cent. Defying the wave, Ajwa for Food Industries company stock rose by 9.98 per cent in the first hour of Wednesday trade. "This is due to speculative trading on the stock as the [court] appeal on the company's capital increase will be reviewed today," Nael Sedqy, senior equity trader with Naem Holding, explains. On Tuesday the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) issued a decree forcing Ajwa's chairman to rebuy all the stocks he sold between 4 and 25 October 2010 at the average market price for that period.
Egypt's main stock index, the EGX30, went down 1.05 per cent at the opening of Wednesday's session in a response to ongoing violent clashes between security forces and protesters on Tahrir Square. By 12:00 it had dropped to 1.16 per cent.