As the Egyptian presidential elections started, stocks ended lower on Monday with losses totalling 952 million Egyptian pounds. Driven by local investors' sell-offs, the main stock index EGX30 retreated below 8740 points. Elections come nearly a year after the military's ouster of the nation's first freely elected president, the Islamist Mohamed Morsi. Egyptians are casting their ballots across the country Monday and Tuesday, fulfilling the next steps in the political roadmap announced by then-Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Morsi's ouster. Egypt has some 53 million registered voters. al-Sisi and leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi are the only two contenders in the presidential race. Meanwhile, the EGX indices were wavering in green notes during the closing session of Monday. Indices Egypt's benchmark index EGX30 ended 0.30 per cent lower to 8736.28 pts; while EGX20 finished 0.20 per cent down to 10530.77 pts. In addition, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 inched down by 0.31 per cent to end at 613.77 pts. The price index EGX100 dropped by 0.64 per cent to conclude at 1073.28 pts. Furthermore, the market capitalization recorded EGP 494.689 billion on Monday. Turnovers Near EGP1 Billion and Half Through the closing session of Monday, the trading volume has reached 450.682 million securities, with turnovers worth EGP 1.459 billion, exchanged through 43.153 thousand transactions. Also during the closing session, 181 listed securities have been traded in; 119 declined, 40 advanced; while 22 keeping their previous levels. Investors' Activities Egyptian investors were net sellers seizing on Monday 85.16% of the total market, with a net equity of EGP 60.388 million, excluding the deals. On the other hand, Arab and the non-Arab foreign investors were net buyers capturing 9.81% and 5.03% respectively of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 11.378 million and EGP 49.010 million respectively, excluding the deals.
