During Thursday closing session, the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) has trimmed its early losses to eventually reach EGP 484 million as the capital market has amounted to EGP 396.173 million. EGX indices closed in red except for the EGX70. The main index, EGX30 fell by 0.28% to close at 5739.02 p. EGX20 dipped by 0.46% to finish at 6666.32 p. Meanwhile, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 rose by 0.02% to conclude at 533.98 pts. Price index EGX100 went down by 0.25% to end at 887.07 p. Traded volume reached 144.675 million securities worth EGP 822.509 million, exchanged through 30.566 thousand transactions. This was after trading in 183 listed securities; 92 declined 64 advanced while 27 keeping their previous levels. EGX's losses were due to the non-Arab Foreigners' profit-taking deals. Egyptians and Arabs were net buyers seizing 87.71% and 3.76% respectively, of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 1.336 million and EGP 12.670 million excluding the deals. On the other hand, non-Arab Foreigners were net sellers seizing 8.53% of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 14.006 million excluding the deals. Leading Shares: EGX's leading shares witnessed unsteady performance during the closing. Citadel Capital: Citadel Capital (CCAP.CA)'s stock surged by 2.46% to close at EGP 4.16. Citadel Capital Chairman and Founder Ahmed Heikal said the firm has already invested $4 billion in Egypt since January 2011, when an uprising erupted that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. Citadel has an eye on infrastructure and energy-related projects, he added during Euromoney conference on Tuesday. "I met a number of government officials and we think we are ready to invest a significant amount of money, probably higher than the $4 billion over the next three years," "We identified a number of opportunities in the energy efficiency, infrastructure sphere," he said. Orascom Telecom Holding: Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) (ORTE.CA) inched higher by 1.13% to conclude at EGP 3.59. EFG-Hermes: EFG-Hermes Holding (HRHO.CA) went down by 1.18% to finish at EGP 11.71. Egypt's financial regulator said on Wednesday it would decide next week on whether to approve plans by Egypt's biggest investment bank EFG-Hermes (HRHO.CA) to tie up with Qatar's QInvest. EFG-Hermes and QInvest sealed the agreement in May to hive off EFG-Hermes's investment banking business in a joint venture in which state-backed QInvest would hold a 60 percent stake. "We will take our decision next week," Ashraf El-Sharkawy, chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA), told Reuters, when asked if EFSA would approve the plan by EFG-Hermes and Qinvest for an investment bank. He did not give further details. In September, Shareholders in EFG-Hermes reaffirmed their approval of the tie-up after demands by the regulator for more details were met. EFSA had rejected decisions approved by shareholders in June because the firm had not clarified points including minority rights. Orascom Construction Industries: Trading was resumed for Orascom Construction Industries – OCI (OCIC.CA) during Wednesday. The stock pushed down by 1.03% to end at EGP 277.39. Trading resumption was after OCI has sent clarifications to the EGX. Commenting on the news published by Amwal Al Ghad, Omar Derwaza - Head of Investor Relations at Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) - has asserted that the Egyptian Tax Authority has called for holding a meeting with the Group officials without mentioning the main reasons behind that request. Derwaza expected that the meeting will discuss what the Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi had said during October war victory celebrations regarding the five EGX-listed companies which are accused of evading to pay the taxes through the last years. The EGX Chairman Mohamed Omran said early Wednesday the bourse has suspended trading in Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) – (OCIC.CA)'s stocks awaiting the firm's comments on the news published by Amwal Al Ghad regarding its EGP 14 billion tax fraud. Egyptian Tax Authority sources told Amwal Al Ghad that the authority had called the Egyptian tycoon Onsi Sawiris alongside his son Nassif Sawiris to start interrogations regarding Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) – (OCIC.CA)'s evading to pay EGP 14 billion tax dues to the state. The Egyptian Tax Authority has decided to call the Egyptian tycoon Onsi Sawiris and his son Nassif Sawiris to start interrogations regarding Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) – (OCIC.CA)'s evading to pay EGP 14 billion tax dues to the state. President Morsi stated Saturday that Egypt is owed about EGP 100 billion by five companies adding that the state is in talks with these entities to have its dues. The President clarified that some of these dues arose from financial irregularities or tax evasions. The sources further told Amwal Al Ghad that the selling deal of OCI's Orascom Building Materials Holding to French Lafarge in 2008 has been reviewed referring that the deal has violated the law leading to tax fraud. It is worth mentioning that OCI sold in 2007 its entire stake in Orascom Building Materials Holding (OBMH) to French Lafarge at $ 12.9 billion. The tax sources added that OCI had founded Orascom Building and had listed it in the EGX for a short while, transferring to it the Lafarge deal valued at EGP 71 billion. On the other hand, OCI noted on Monday that the capital gains from selling its entire stakes in the EGX-listed Orascom Building Materials Holding to Lafarge are tax exempt. Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding: Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding (OTMT.CA) maintained with no change at EGP 0.54.
