Egypt's bourse has incurred midday losses of EGP 1.03 billion driven by the foreign sellers amid the second day of adopting the new stamp tax on the daily transactions. The bourse indices were wavering in green notes during Monday noon. Benchmark EGX30 inched lower by 0.14% to 5443.63 p. EGX20 also fell by 0.10% to 6260.25 p. Meanwhile, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 dipped by 0.47% to 449.68 p. Price index EGX100 dropped by 0.19% to 759.1 p. The capital market has amounted to EGP 365.014 billion, according to data compiled by Amwal Al Ghad English at 12:55 p.m. Cairo time (10:55 GMT) during the midday session of Monday. Trading Volumes & Values: The trading volume has reached 38.693 million securities worth EGP 141.495 million, exchanged through 6.970 transactions during Sunday's opening. Also during the midday session, 143 listed securities have been traded in; 87 declined, 21 advanced; while 35 steadied. Investors' Activities: Arabs and the non-Arab foreigners' selling pressures have driven EGX's midday losses as they were net sellers seizing 2.05% and 7.22% respectively, of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 4.035 million and EGP 85.290 thousand, excluding the deals. Meanwhile, Egyptians were net buyers seizing 90.72% of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 4.120 million excluding the deals. Stamp Tax – Day Two: Egypt's Central Clearing, Depository and Registry house (MCDR) started yesterday collecting the recently-approved stamp tax on Egyptian stock exchange's daily buying and selling transactions. As pursuant to the recently-approved draft, the stamp tax shall be imposed on the Cairo bourse's daily selling and buying transactions at 0.001. The stamp tax shall be also applied on the advertisements at 20%. Capital market experts alongside EG-Finance, Division of Securities, Egyptian Capital Market Association (ECMA) and Egyptian Investment Management Association (EIMA) are urging the decision makers in Egypt to reconsider imposing the stamp tax on the bourse daily transactions amid the current sharp decline in the volumes and values of trades driven by the political and economic turbulence. They further said imposing the stamp tax on the daily transactions will increase the burden on the investors by 40-65%. Accordingly, heavier burdens will likely drive the investors to exit the market soon.
