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Market Report: Egypt stocks slip 0.15 per cent as traders continue Eid holiday Volumes are low and sales flat on the Bourse, as investors make only a partial return to the market after five-day break
Egypt's stock market reopened from the five-day Eid Al-Adha break to sluggish results on Wednesday as most investors remained home, awaiting the full trading week starting this coming Sunday. The benchmark EGX30 traded modestly in the green for much of the four-hour session before slipping 0.15 per cent to 4,417.5 points at closing. "We saw a very weak performance, volumes were low and prices were flat, but this is normal -- people are taking the remaining part of the week off [even though the market is open]," said Walaa Hazem, vice president of asset management at HC Securities and Investment. Thursday's session was likely to see similar results, he said, as low participation due to holiday breaks is tightening turnover on an exchange already suffering from a liquidity squeeze. From the day's 171 listed stocks, 111 declined in value and 39 gained, reflected in the broader EGX70 which fell 0.77 per cent. Most sectors slipped or remained stagnant, with the exception of banks and financial services which posted modest gains. Total turnover was a thin LE178.14 million. Egyptians made up 56 per cent of the day's trade and were net-buyers of LE35.3m in stocks. Other Arabs and foreign investors, in contrast, were net-sellers. High-caps saw a swathe of minor losses, with shares in Ezz Steel, Orascom Construction and the Talaat Moustafa Group all shedding value. It was left up to financial players the Commercial International Bank, which gained 0.79 per cent, and EGF Hermes, up 2.53 per cent, to soften the overall drop. Shares in National Societe Generale Bank also edged up 0.31 per cent after Egypt's second-biggest bank posted a 10.7 per cent rise in third-quarter net income earlier in the day. "There's a liquidity squeeze in the market," says Hazem. "We need new investors and for that to happen we need signs of political progress -- not complete stability, maybe, but a clear roadmap [for Egypt's political future]." The sluggish performance of Egypt's Bourse was mirrored by exchanges across the Arab world, with those that reopened today registering minimal gains or losses. Exchanges in Saudi, Oman, Kuwait and Jordanian remained closed.
