CAIRO: EGX 30, Egypt's main index picked up by 1.04 percent reaching 4,137.35 points on Thursday after recording one of its biggest losses in history over the past two days. Overall for the day's forecast, the market fared well seeing steady increases. EGX 70 increased by 2.42 percent reaching a value of LE 458.40, while EGX 100 increased by 1.89 percent with a value of LE 707.65. Some of the most active gainers for the day included Unipack, Arab Dairy, KZ Chemicals, and Prime Holdings. Unipack's Universal for Paper and Packaging Materials was the best performing, rising 9.22 percent on Thursday to LE 7.11. Arab Dairy increased 7.64 percent going from LE 53.16 to LE 57.22; Kafr El Zayat Chemicals increased 7.82 percent reaching LE 170.37. While Prime Holdings and Investments increased by 8.21 percent reaching LE 1.45. The market's worst performers were companies from the building materials and real estate sectors including Lift Slab Misr, which fell 9.99 percent reaching a price of LE 12.35 and Cairo Development and Investment that fell 9.96 percent reaching LE 9.85. Moreover, Al Ezz Dekheila Steel Co. also fell by 9.95 percent reaching LE 459.58. On Wednesday, the Egyptian Stock Exchange seeing its fifth largest daily loss in history, with LE 10 billion, (about $1.68 billion). While on Tuesday, the exchange saw a loss of LE 3.4 billion ($570 million). The losses came in light of political parties threatening to boycott elections, if the ruling military council did not amend the electoral law. Planned mass protests on Sep.30 to denounce the ruling military council's decision to prolong emergency law and “reclaim the revolution” were also seen to have an affect on stock performance. As a result, Egyptian shareholders, mainly individuals, were selling-off on Tuesday and Wednesday, despite net purchases by foreign and Arab investors. Moreover, the board of directors of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) penalized three brokerage firms on Wednesday for “violating market rules and participating in illegal activity,” according to a statement from the EFSA. The authority fined Tycoon Securities, Kenana for Trading in Securities, and the Mirage Securities after they were allegedly found to have violated Article 31 of Capital Market Law, which “threatens the stability” of the capital market and interests of dealers with the company. As retribution, Tycoon's penalty included raising its insurance by LE 1.5 million, while Mirage Securities' insurance was raised by LE 2.5 million. All three companies were also suspended from activity for three business months.
