Egypt's stocks pared early gains to end trading on Monday earning a total of 4.35 billion Egyptian pounds backed by foreign investors' buying appetite. In addition, the main stock index, EGX30 reached 8015 points. On Sunday, Egypt's stock market witnessed a sharp decline that forced a 30-minute suspension of trading after reports of a newly proposed government tax on capital gains which experts said was hardly explained to investors. Egyptian Finance Minister Hany Qadry Dimian announced the new tax on capital gains Thursday, fuelling the market slide. He said the government will impose a 10-percent tax on net realized portfolio profits at the end of the year. Stock market profits are currently tax-free. It is expected within the coming few hours that the country's presidency will endorse the final draft of the capital gains tax. Meanwhile, the EGX indices were wavering in green notes during the closing session of Monday. Indices Egypt's benchmark index EGX30 ended 1.53 per cent higher to 8015.23 pts; while EGX20 finished 1.41 per cent up to 9592.97 pts. In addition, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 hiked by 0.50 per cent to end at 563.51 pts. The price index EGX100 increased by 0.58 per cent to conclude at 990.94 pts. Furthermore, the market capitalization recorded EGP 464.655 billion on Monday. Turnovers below EGP1 Billion Through the closing session of Monday, the trading volume has reached 287.008 million securities, with turnovers worth EGP 811.651 million, exchanged through 30.967 thousand transactions. Also during the closing session, 183 listed securities have been traded in; 47 declined, 109 advanced; while 27 kept their previous levels. Investors' Activities The non-Arab foreign investors and Arab investors were net buyers on Monday capturing 10.54% and 4.48% respectively of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 30.981 million and EGP 6.842 million respectively, excluding the deals. On the other hand, Egyptian investors were net sellers seizing 84.98% of the total market, with a net equity of EGP 37.824 million, excluding the deals.
