The narrow range fluctuation of the Egyptian Exchange's (EGX) benchmark index is expected to continue once again this week with the index ranging between the high 5,000s and the low 6,000s. "The past two or three weeks witnessed no major fluctuations," Head of Technical Analysis Department at Naeem Brokerage Ibrahim El-Nemr said. Investors are still in a state of anticipation as they wait for positive news that would encourage them to purchase stocks, El-Nemr noted. "The aim is for the main index [EGX-30] to range between 6,300 points and 6,400 points." Mohamed Al-Assar, the head of the technical analysis department at the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) for investment in North Africa and the Middle East, expected the EGX-30 to fluctuate between 5,900 points and 6,200 points. Minimal improvement was registered in the performance of the benchmark index, EGX-30, last week, in which it surged by 0.17% to 6,089 points. A nominal surge was also recorded in the remaining indices, with the small and medium enterprise (SME) index, EGX-70, rising by 0.65% while the broader index, EGX-100, surged by 0.61%. "The total value traded recorded EGP 4.6bn, while the total volume traded reached 847m securities executed over 106,000 transactions this week," the weekly report issued by EGX read. "For the past week, the total value traded recorded EGP 2.8bn, while the total volume traded reached 855m securities executed over 100,000 transactions." The trade was controlled by Egyptians, who accounted for 83.03% of the value traded during the past week. Foreign investors accounted for 10.09% while the remaining 6.88% were Arabs. "Non-Arab foreign investors were net sellers, with a net equity of EGP 17.08m, and Arab investors were net buyers, with a net equity of EGP 285.17m," according to EGX's report. Over the past month, instability in the global and local stock markets pushed foreign investors to continue selling their shares in the EGX for the second consecutive month, registering EGP 195.87m in net sales for transactions. This brings the total of shares sold by foreign investors to EGP 744.54m since the beginning of 2016. "Institutions accounted for 63.28% of the value traded, while the remaining 36.72% were for the individuals," the report read. The total market capitalisation of the listed stocks was EGP 393bn at the end of the past week, a 1% increase compared to the preceding week.
