Egypt stocks closed down on Wednesday with the benchmark EGX30 shedding 1.39 per cent to alight at 4,915 points. "This backward trend is normal after huge market gains in the last seven consecutive trading sessions," Issa Fathi, head of securities at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, told Ahram Online. Fathi went on to describe the fall as a "healthy drop," stressing that the market had recently gained 25 per cent in the past seven trade sessions."It's normal for stocks to fall following huge gains." Fathi went on to point out that investors had begun selling off stocks today in hopes of taking profits, describing moves by investors as "profit hunting." According to Fathi, the market is expected to witness some losses. "The market cannot be expected to gain all the time," he said, explaining that "losses encourage buying, while gains tend to encourage selling." The broader EGX70 index also fell for the day, by 1.17 per cent. Daily turnover on Wednesday stood at LE388million. Of 171 stocks listed on the exchange, only 40 closed in the green while 118 lost value. Heavyweight stocks Talaat Mostafa Group and Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding fell by 3.54 and 1.95 per cent respectively. Hermes Holding Company, meanwhile, climbed by 1.51 per cent.
