Egypt's stagnant response to Israel's killing of Egyptian soldiers in operations close to the border reflects on the bourse, ending low in low-confidence, with only one stock surviving in the green Egypt's main index EGX30 has reacted quickly to the Sinai incidents and closed at a drop of 3.2 per cent on Sunday's session, recording 4.593 points. “The slow official reaction to Sinai clashes was viewed as a lack of vision among Egypt's rulers, which resulted in uncertainty and panic in the market” Mostafa Badra, capital markets expert comments. Badra adds that struggling world markets also threw its shadow on market performance. “Yesterday the Saudi market dropped due to turbulence in the international market on Friday; our drop is higher because of our adverse internal climate,” he adds. On Friday most of global markets saw a decline as US indices, Nasdaq and Dow Jones, fell by 1.6 and 1.5 per cent, respectively. Also, the UK's main index “FTSE 100” plunged by 1 per cent and Japan's Nikkei 225 index dipped by 2.5 per cent. Of 179 listed stocks only 18 gained and 153 declined in a session that saw a high turnover of LE 530mn ($89.8) “Today's high turnover is not representative of the market's performance, as only two deals boosted the volume.” Delta Sugar and Tora Cement record LE 319.5mn ($54.15) as a turnover, which represents two-thirds of total market turnover. “It is a transfer of ownership that was carried out by foreign investors,” explained Badra to Ahram Online. The broader EGX70, which includes smaller and speculative stocks, witnessed a 2.7 per cent loss in value today. Ajwa in the food industry is the only survivor share in EGX30 list in green, and surges with 4 per cent. The slump was mostly in High-Cap shares led by EFG-Hermes, which dipped by 5 per cent followed by the Orascom family OCI and OT, who downturned by 3.3 and 3 per cent, respectively. CIB and Ezz steel are suffering the loss by falling 2.6 and 3.5 per cent, respectively. Mobinil, the communications giant, goes south again with 3.7 per cent down after a week of profits and gains. Palm Hills Development drops by 3 per cent as it announced the results of the first half of 2011. Egyptian real estate firm, Palm Hills Developments, the country's second-largest developer, slipped to a 2011 first-half net loss of 81.4 million Egyptian pounds ($13.6 million), the stock exchange said on Sunday. Arabs are the only net seller of LE 8.7mn, while Egyptians and foreigners are net buyers at LE 5.7mn and LE 3mn, respectively. Badra expects the rest of the trading week to be calm and cautious, while witnessing a drop across the board. “Investors - especially individuals - will be seeking liquidity during the week, which will lead stocks to further slumps,” he clarifies. The Egypt Stock Exchange has suspended trading on 15 companies' shares for half an hour after they exceeded the 5 per cent decline rate during the first half of Sunday's session.
