This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.
Market report: EGX30 up 0.38 per cent, though profits are sound Egypt's main index continues to give deceptive signals with marginal growth but solid fundamentals as the year opens
Stagnant big caps hindered Egypt's main index, the EGX30, from soaring in the last session of the week. The EGX30 inched up only 0.4 per cent to 7,156 points on a quiet day where the total value of transactions stood at LE388,851,737, only one third its average. The plus or minus half a point fluctuation since the beginning of the year gives a wrong signal of stagnation, “while large profit margins are being cumulated in the market,” according to Hanafy Awad, an economic analyst."The EGX30 continues to be misleading, as it moves very slightly up and down, while small companies, not included in the EGX30 are booming.” “Shares like Al-Baraka Bank Egypt rose in one month from LE9 to LE14, enjoying high profit margins," Hanafy added. On the other hand, the heavy weights like Orascom Construction and industries (OCI) and Orascom Telecom (OT) have seen stagnant performance for months. "OT shares rose by four piasters only, making no real profit," Hanfy noted. Egypt's market is apparently mimicking world markets. The FTSE100, the main European index, rose by 0.61 per cent, while the Dow Jones rose by 0.72 per cent. "Global markets perform similarly to the Egyptian market, with small movements becoming the norm.” All leading sectors ended in the green except for financial services and telecommunications, which declined by 10.9 and 7.7 per cent of total value respectively. Institutions represented little more than half today's trading. Nationals dominated 77.2 per cent of total trading, while foreign and Arab investors accounted for 15.3 and 7.5 per cent respectively. Today's announcement by the National Company for Fertilisers and Chemical Industries owned by the Egyptian-Kuwaiti Holding Company, that it will build a new factory in Sadat City for the production of phosphate fertilisers, "won't entail any consequences in the short term, but it might benefit the company's long term balance sheet," Hanafy commented. Sharm Dreams Company for Tourism Investment was the top mover on the upside, rising 10.3 per cent to reach LE21.01. It was followed by International Agricultural Products and National Cement at number five. Tracking stock movement, Bisco Misron was the top loser today, falling 7.78 per cent, with the General Company for Land Reclamation, Development and Reconstruction down 5.22 per cent.
