By Ahmed Kamel CAIRO, April 29, 2018 - Fundamentals will continue as the key market driver this week, lifting Egypt's benchmark index to fresh all-time highs. Higher liquidity will boost a bull market as investors look for opportunities to buy into Egypt's major initial public offerings (IPOs), planned this year. Driven by the country's blue chip Commercial International Bank (CIB), the EGX30 index may test 18,500-18,600 points this week. The Egyptian Exchange and local banks will be closed on Tuesday marking Labor Day. The EGX30 index hit an all-time high above 18,360 points as the market capitalization topped LE1 trillion (around $56.8 billion) last week. The benchmark index added 582 points, or 3.27 per cent, to 18,363 points last week. However, the EGX70 index slipped 0.15 per cent to 865.82 points. The broader index EGX100 gained 0.81 per cent to 2,291 points. Volume fell to LE8.8 billion last week, down from LE9.2 billion the previous week. Trades on the EGX30 index alone totaled 1.29 billion stocks worth LE4.9billion, bourse data showed.The Egyptian Exchange was closed on Wednesday marking the Sinai Liberation Day. The market capitalization surged LE 24.6 billion, or 0.4 per cent, to LE1.006 trillion, market data showed. With 3.29 million traded stocks worth LE 305.9million, shares in the country's heavyweight CIB surged 6.3 per cent to LE 94.99. Locals, Arabs and non-Arabs accounted for 66, 12, and 22 per cent respectively, bourse data showed.Arabs and non-Arab investors were net buyers of LE45 million and LE683million respectively. Locals were net sellers of LE1.2 billion, bourse data showed. Institutions, which accounted for 41 per cent of trades, were net buyers of LE179 million, market data showed. The fundamental drivers include the nation's macroeconomic outlook, foreign exchange rate and te planned IPOs, which are expected to inject higher liquidity. The government has unveiled a long awaited plan to free float stakes in 14 state-owned companies for the first time and increase the floated stakes in nine others. The 23 state-owned companies comprise the nation's first phase of IPOs expected to be carried out in the coming 24-30 months.The planned IPOs will take advantage of a depreciated pound that attracts foreign investors into injecting fresh funds into newcomers listed on the stock exchange. The market value of the 23 companies is estimated at LE430 billion (around $24.4 billion), Finance Ministry data showed. The 23 companies were selected from the oil and petrochemical, logistic, financial services, real estate and manufacturing sectors. Egypt's top companies include Misr Insurance, E-finance, the Housing & Development Bank, Banque du Caire and the Bank of Alexandria, Engineering for the Petroleum and Process Industries (ENPPI), the Middle East Oil Refinery Company (Midor) and SidiKerir Petrochemicals. Since November 3, 2016, the currency float has been a boon for local equities with Egypt's benchmark index jumping 21.66 per cent in 2017. The broader EGX70 and EGX100 indices rocketed 78.5 and 79.9 per cent to 827 and 1,971 points respectively in 2017. The EGX30 index has jumped 22.2 per cent since the beginning of 2018, bourse data showed. The EGX70 and EGX100 indices have gained 4.6 and 16.2 per cent respectively.
