Driven by key interest rates hikes and killing of 21 military border guards, Egypt's stocks closed Sunday lower with losses totalling 2.36 billion Egyptian pounds. In return, the country's main stock index, EGX30 pushed down below 8580 points over local investors' selling pressures. Meanwhile, the Egyptian Exchange's indices were wavering in red notes during closing session of Sunday. Egyptian presidency announced three days of national mourning after gunmen killed 21 military border guards Saturday near the border with Libya in one of the largest assaults targeting security forces in years. Late Thursday, the Central Bank of Egypt made a surprise decision to hike interest rates raised by 100 basis points each to keep inflation in check. The Monetary Policy Committee, in a statement posted on the Egyptian central bank website, said "a pre-emptive rate hike is warranted to anchor inflation expectations and hence limit a generalized price increase, which is detrimental to the economy over the medium-term." The Monetary Policy Committee raised the overnight deposit rate, overnight lending rate, and the rate of the central bank's main operation each by 100 basis points to 9.25%, 10.25%, and 9.75%, respectively. The discount rate was also raised by 100 basis points to 9.75%, it said. EGX is operating with shortened trading hours during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan since the exchange would open from 10:00 to 13:30 Cairo time. Indices Egypt's benchmark index EGX30 ended 0.72 per cent lower to 8575.4 pts; while EGX20 finished 1.02 per cent down to 10305.35 pts. In addition, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 inched down by 0.66 per cent to finish at 611.11 pts. The price index EGX100 dropped by 0.67 per cent to conclude at 1082.27 pts. Furthermore, the market capitalization recorded EGP 491.864 billion on Sunday. Turnovers Remain below EGP 1 billion Through the closing session of Sunday, the trading volume has reached 94.850 million securities, with turnovers worth EGP 893.141 million, exchanged through 15.046 transactions. Also during the closing session, 170 listed securities have been traded in; 110 declined, 30 advanced; while 26 kept their previous levels. Investors' Activities Local investors were net sellers on Sunday seizing 94.67% of the total market, with a net equity of EGP 15.396 million, excluding the deals. On the contrary, the non-Arab foreign and Arab investors were net buyers capturing 3.5% and 1.83% respectively of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 14.401 million and EGP 995.721 thousand respectively, excluding the deals.
