CAIRO: The Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges (Case) and the Capital Market Authority are currently looking into imposing harsher penalties on listed companies that violate rules of trading and disclosure of information to the Case. The Case recently doubled fines for infractions of trading to LE 10,000. They have also resorted to terminating transactions that are in violation of regulations or resulting from a leakage of information. One of the most recent violations on the market came when Nasr City Housing Development failed to disclose information about its decision to increase issued capital to LE 100 million, which gave room for insider trading on its stocks. As a result, the Case canceled all trading on the company's stock on Wednesday and Thursday of last week. The Case also imposed a LE 10,000 fine on the company to be paid within ten days otherwise the company's shares would be de-listed from the bourse. "The Caseis currently investigating the matter to ascertain whether or not there was insider trading (leakage) on these two days, the Case told Daily News Egypt. Officials from Nasr City Housing Development refused to comment on the violation or the investigation process. According to the Case, trading on Nasr City Housing Development shares was very vibrant on these two days, amounting to 1,542 transactions worth over LE 49.8 million. Shares climbed to LE 274, up from the LE 265 which recorded on previous days. The company's shares traded yesterday at around LE 270.
