Egypt's bourse has posted midday gains of EGP 1.5 billion backed by foreign buying transactions performed on Thursday. Back to rally, the bourse indices were wavering in green notes on Thursday noon. Benchmark EGX30 inched up by 0.98% to 5390.19 p. EGX20 also rose by 0.98% to 6098.98 p. Meanwhile, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 advanced by 0.12% to 437.91 p. Price index EGX100 went up by 0.04% to 736.55 p. The capital market has amounted to EGP 359.317 billion, according to data compiled by Amwal Al Ghad English at 12:44 p.m. Cairo time (10:44 GMT) during the midday session of Thursday. Trading Volumes & Values: The trading volume has recorded 46.725 million securities worth EGP 280.717 million, exchanged through 8781 transactions during Thursday's midday. Also during the midday session, 123 listed securities have been traded in; 37 declined, 42 advanced; while 44 steadied. Investors' Activities: The non-Arab foreigners and Arabs' buying transactions have backed EGX's midday gains as they were net buyers seizing 41.92% and 16.92% respectively, of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 8.701 million and EGP 13.536 million, excluding the deals. Meanwhile, Egyptians were net sellers seizing 41.16% of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 22.237 million excluding the deals. Egypt Bourse Stamp Tax – Day Tenth: Egypt's Central Clearing, Depository and Registry house (MCDR) started a week earlier 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.
