Through Thursday closing session, the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) has posted gains of EGP 1.97 billion as the capital market has amounted to EGP 395.252 billion. EGX indices closed in green. The main index, EGX30 climbed by 1.24% to close at 5726.12 p. EGX20 pulled up by 0.54% to end at 6636.3 p. Meanwhile, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 hiked by 0.14% to conclude at 527.44 pts. Price index EGX100 inched higher by 0.69% to finish at 883.38 p. Traded volume reached 181.243 million securities worth EGP 663.515 million, exchanged through 31.500 thousand transactions. This was after trading in 172 listed securities; 86 declined 68 advanced while 18 keeping their previous levels. The EGX's gains were backed by the foreigners and Arabs' buying deals. Egyptians were net sellers seizing 89.09% of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 66.240 million excluding the deals. On the other hand, non-Arab Foreigners and Arabs were net buyers seizing 6.01% and 4.91% respectively, of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 13.380 million and EGP 52.860 million excluding the deals. It is worth noting that the EGX has started Thursday applying the new mechanism to calculate the stock's closing prices. This mechanism shall work on setting a certain value for each security traded in the EGX. Under the new mechanism, the amount of stocks whose average determines the closing price must be equivalent to at least 0.5 per cent of the stock's average daily turnover over three months. Determinants of the Stock's closing price value = (Stock's Total turnover over three months/the number of trading days of the stock) × 0.5% The stocks must also be valued at over EGP 10,000 or its equivalent in foreign currency. The new mechanism also stipulates that any private transactions between investment companies are to be excluded from determining the closing price. Inter-investment companies' transactions are to be conducted on the “special transactions" display, not the “opening of the operations market (OPR)" display. Leading Stocks: EGX's leading stocks unsteady performance during closing. Orascom Construction Industries: Orascom Construction Industries (OCIC.CA) soared by 2.87% to finish at EGP 288.24. Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding: Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding (OTMT.CA) hiked by 1.92% to close at EGP 0.53. EFG-Hermes: EFG-Hermes Holding (HRHO.CA) went up by 0.18% to end at EGP 11.12. Citadel Capital: Citadel Capital (CCAP.CA) maintained with no change at EGP 4.07. Citadel Capital (CCAP.CA), the leading private equity firm in the Middle East and Africa, announced Wednesday that it has narrowed its consolidated losses during the first half of 2012 by 2.9% to eventually reach EGP 283.5 million, compared to the year earlier losses of EGP 291.8 million. Citadel Capital further added that the firm's principal investments in its own transactions rose 14.8% in the first half of the year to US$ 1.1 billion (EGP 6.3 billion), with US$ 138.9 million in new investments this year being driven in large part by US$ 93.4 million in new equity invested in the Egyptian Refining Company (ERC), which reached financial close during the second quarter of 2012 in what stands as the largest single equity raising in Egypt since 2007 and the largest in the MENA region year-to-date. “Financial close on ERC represents a substantial de-risking for Citadel Capital as we closed one of the largest-ever project finance transactions in Africa," said Citadel Capital Chairman and Founder Ahmed Heikal. “We now look forward to a busy fall and winter period as we continue a strategic transformation that will see us take on more and more of the characteristics of a traditional investment / holding company. Management is fully committed to driving the growth of core platform and portfolio companies that are increasingly on the right side of macro fundamentals, as recent moves toward subsidy reform and energy deregulation in Egypt suggest." Golden Sachs had downgraded, in a recent study, on Tuesday Citadel Capital's stock from ‘Neutral' to ‘Sell'. Golden Sachs raised the company's fair value from EGP 3.5 to EGP 4.17, 9% lower than the stock's current price EGP4.6. Golden Sachs has attributed the downgrading to ‘Sell' to the stock's recent strong rally. Citadel Capital's Managing Director announced late Monday that it intends to inject $2.5 billion in a projected oil refinery in east Africa's third-largest economy Uganda Uganda has said it intends to build a refinery once it starts producing crude oil, and it recently raised its estimated oil reserves to 3.5 billion barrels from 2.5 billion barrels. Citadel secured $3.7 billion in financing for an Egyptian petroleum refinery project in June, and the firm's managing director Karim Sadek said the company is now looking at refining potential deals in sub-Saharan Africa, including Uganda. "Yes, we would be interested," Sadek told Reuters in Nairobi, where he addressed a business club. "We know very well what's happening on the Ugandan oil side and we've had discussions before." He said Citadel never invests in projects without a local partner, and he would not be drawn on the size of the investment the private equity group might make since the refinery plans are still in their infancy. Uganda has outlined plans to build a refinery in Hoima, about 220 km west of its capital Kampala, and in July the government said it was aiming to take up to a 40 per cent stake in the plant with a private investor acquiring the remaining 60 per cent. Uganda says it wants a facility with a maximum output of 120,000 barrels per day before production can commence, and that it intends to develop the project in phases, starting with a refining capacity of 20,000 barrels. Orascom Telecom Holding: Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) (ORTE.CA) dropped by 0.83% to finish EGP 3.58.
