Egypt's bourse has incurred midday losses of EGP 895 million driven by the local sellers coinciding with the third day of adopting the new stamp tax on the daily transactions. The bourse indices were wavering in red notes during Tuesday noon, except for the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 which solely rose. Benchmark EGX30 edged lower by 0.50% to 5404.94 p. EGX20 also fell by 0.53% to 6206.75 p. Meanwhile, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 rose by 0.06% to 448.94 p. Price index EGX100 dropped by 0.15% to 756.07 p. The capital market has amounted to EGP 363.315 billion, according to data compiled by Amwal Al Ghad English at 13:37 p.m. Cairo time (11:37 GMT) during the midday session of Tuesday. Trading Volumes & Values: The trading volume has reached 27.205 million securities worth EGP 147.397 million, exchanged through 6.851 transactions during Sunday's opening. Also during the midday session, 151 listed securities have been traded in; 82 declined, 22 advanced; while 47 steadied. Investors' Activities: Local selling pressures have driven EGX's midday losses as they were net sellers seizing 74.29% of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 8.377 million excluding the deals. Meanwhile, Arabs and the non-Arab foreigners were net buyers seizing 5.44% and 20.26% respectively, of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 3.855 million and EGP 4.522 million, excluding the deals. Stamp Tax – Day Three: 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.
