Egypt's bourse has opened Thursday incurring losses of EGP 137 million triggered by the news of the resignation of a senior Egyptian finance minister adviser who is involved in talks on a vital IMF loan. The bourse indices were also wavering in red notes Thursday morning. Sami Khallaf's resignation, announced on Wednesday, points to friction resulting from Brotherhood-linked appointments in the civil service. The Islamist group's sway over Prime Minister Hisham Kandil's government was increased by a reshuffle last week. Benchmark EGX30 dropped by 0.04% to 5453.76 p. EGX20 also fell by 0.03% to 6265.99 p. Meanwhile, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 dipped by 0.04% to 453.42 p. Price index EGX100 declined by 0.06% to 762.86 p. The capital market has amounted to EGP 365.551 billion, according to data compiled by Amwal Al Ghad English at 11:03 a.m. Cairo time (09:03 GMT) during the opening session of Thursday. The trading volume has reached 3.205 million securities worth EGP 15.020 million, exchanged through 823 transactions during Thursday's opening. Also during the opening session, 58 listed securities have been traded in; 20 declined, 4 advanced; while 34 steadied. The non-Arab foreigners' selling pressures have driven EGX's early losses as they were net sellers seizing 28.88% of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 1.876 million excluding the deals. Meanwhile, Egyptians and Arabs were net buyers seizing 65.36% and 5.76% respectively, of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 1.383 million and EGP 493.259 thousand, excluding the deals. Resignation Reasons: Khallaf, who told Reuters he had resigned on Tuesday, was an adviser to the minister and head of the ministry's public debt unit. He had been involved in talks on a $4.8 billion loan Egypt is seeking from the International Monetary Fund. "They try to disrupt my work and interfere in it as well as marginalize me ... There is no link between my ideas and theirs," Khallaf said, referring to the new appointees. He said the work of the new group of officials who had entered the ministry had a "political nature". Reshuffle's Tight Spot: The new reshuffle has compounded criticism of Morsi administration's management of an economy facing severe budget and currency crises that have been temporarily eased by $5 billion in financial assistance from Qatar and Libya. A senior U.S. diplomat said: "Some of the recent cabinet appointments have been disappointing, and particularly in the economic sphere." Angus Blair, founder of the Cairo-based think tank Signet Institute, said: "The market is not yet convinced of the ability of the cabinet to come up to solutions to Egypt's problems."
