Egypt's shares ended this week remarkably higher with gains totalling 6.1 billion Egyptian pounds triggered by the strong return of foreign investors' buying appetite following Arabian Cement Company's remarks to start trading by next Sunday. As a result, the main stock index, EGX30 further surged to close the trading of the current week above 8550 points. Meanwhile, the EGX indices were wavering in green notes during the closing session of Thursday. Egypt-based Arabian Cement Company's initial public share offer is the first major listing on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) since the 2011 political uprising. Arabian Cement announced that its common stock will begin trading on the Egyptian stock market on Sunday, May 18, 2014. Indices Egypt's benchmark index EGX30 ended 1.02 per cent higher to 8553.43 pts; while EGX20 finished 1.36 per cent up to 10256.37 pts. In addition, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 hiked by 0.64 per cent to end at 620.8 pts. The price index EGX100 inched up by 0.62 per cent to conclude at 1083.09 pts. Furthermore, the market capitalization recorded EGP 492.334 billion on Thursday. Turnovers Surpass EGP1 bln Through the closing session of Thursday, the trading volume has reached 399.275 million securities, with turnovers worth EGP 1.299 billion, exchanged through 36.903 thousand transactions. Also during the closing session, 177 listed securities have been traded in; 44 declined, 111 advanced; while 22 keeping their previous levels. Investors' Activities The non-Arab foreign and Arab investors were net buyers on Thursday capturing 8.55% and 8.28% respectively of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 10.738 million and EGP 37.704 million respectively, excluding the deals. On the other hand, Egyptian investors were net sellers seizing 83.18% of the total market, with a net equity of EGP 48.443 million, excluding the deals.
