Egypt's stock market pared its advance on Monday after two sessions of strong gains. Main index, EGX30 tumbled 0.15 percent, to 7506.18 points. Gains were on the back of speculation that the North African nation would need to devalue its currency during the current financial year. The index had surged 7.7 percent in the two sessions straddling the Eid al-Fitr holiday, following comments from the central bank governor that the Egyptian pound should be a market-based currency where demand and supply set the price. The sentiment chimed with economists' views that another currency devaluation in the fiscal year which runs to June 30 is inevitable. Other indices; EGX50 EWI index fell 0.56 percent, to 1338.4 points; while EGX20 dropped 0.45 percent, to 7726.89 points. Mid- and small-cap index EGX70 edged down 0.37 percent, to 359.64 points. Price index, EGX100 lost 0.51 percent, to 765.77 points. Real estate-related stocks which had led winners in the last two sessions gave up some of their gains: developers Talaat Mostafa Group Holding (TMGH.CA) and Sixth of October Development and Investment - SODIC (OCDI.CA) dropped 5.5 percent and 2.1 percent respectively having closed limit up the previous day. One of the few exceptions was Global Telecom Holding (GTHE.CA), which rose 2.9 percent to hit a fresh 15-month high. Market Caps Market capitalisation incurred losses worth 1.6 billion Egyptian pounds ($180 million), to record 400.282 billion pounds during the closing session of Monday. Turnovers The bourse's trading volume reached 318.979 million securities, with turnovers, closing at 937.667 million pounds, exchanged through 23,092 transactions. Also during the closing session, 172 listed securities have been traded in, 104 declined, 28 advanced; while 39 kept their previous levels. Investors' Activities Arab investors were net sellers capturing 8.17 percent of the total market, with a net equity of 50.691 million pounds, excluding the deals. On the contrary, local and non-Arab foreign investors were net buyers controlling 70.17 and 21.66 percent respectively of the total markets, with a net equity of 44.809 million pounds and 5.882 million pounds, respectively, excluding the deals.
