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Market Report: Mild rise for Egyptian shares on first day of Ramadan Beginning of the holy month sees a subdued day of trade with turnover down but a mild gain for the main stock index
Egypt's stock benchmark continued its slight surge for the second consecutive day, the EGX30 index edging up 0.74 per cent to reach 5,073 points in its first session during the holy month of Ramadan. "The slight surge was mainly because of the low trading volume brought by the Ramadan fast," says financial analyst Wael El-Nahas. He says reduced work schedules and vacations for some have shrunk the pool of local and Arab investors. From 170 listed stocks, 82 saw gains and 73 declined in a session that saw total market turnover of just LE270.4 million. The entire market recorded LE 1.3 billion due to bond deals. Arabs and Egyptians were net-sellers on Monday, offloading LE14.1m and LE3.09m respectively, it was foreigners who balanced the market, buying a net LE17.2m in stocks. "The vacations and tensions around the suspension of the Tahrir sit-in are making investors trade cautiously," says El-Nahas. All market sectors showed gains or remained the same with the exception of food and beverages, which finished in the red. "All shares are suffering flat performance there weren't any exciting events," says El-Nahas. Market heavyweights saw slight gains, starting with Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), which recorded a rise of 0.7 per cent and, at LE27m, saw the highest turnover of the session. Its relation Orascom Telecom (OT) also gained 1 per cent with healthy turnover of LE20m. Ezz Steel edged 0.2 per cent following the company's announcement of new prices of steel rebar, which rose by LE150 per ton. Commerical International Bank, Talaat Moustafa Group and Palm Hills Development all finished in the green, up 0.8, 1.1 and 0.9 per cent respectively.
