Stock exchange drops 0.7% on election day

Unlike the turbulence of today's election process, trading was quiet and steady as the stock exchange dropped by 0.7%

It seems investors were too distracted to trade on the market today. In contrast to the expected turbulence of the parliamenatary elections, trading on the stock exchange remained calm as the EGX30 fell by 0.7% to reach 6789.5 points.
"This should not be taken as a poor reflection of the elections process," says Hisham Tawfik, chairman of securities brokerage firm Arabeya Online, who added that today's index continued last week's trend.
"[There was] no massive selling, no big events," says Tawfik, indicating the regular level of turnover, which stood at LE513 million today.
"This is a rather quiet day on the market. Many dealers spent the day in the streets, backing their friends' candidates, or relatives, or simply went to vote. They just got distracted," argues Issa Fathy, CEO of Strategic Group for Securities.
Egyptians and foreigners were the net sellers today, with a net value of LE573.8 million. Real estate, banks, financial sector, construction materials ended the day on red notes.
In a contrasting trend, the EGX 70, which tracks the activity of mid-sized companies, picked up handsomely today by 2.13% to reach 741.5 points, also continuing last week trend.
"Interestingly, today for the first time ever, the number of transactions within EGX 70 were above that of EGX30," notes Fathy.
EGX 70 represents 12% of the Egyptian stock market capitalization.