CAIRO, June 11, 2018 - Local stocks were in the red on Monday, on the backdrop of sell-offs by local and Arab institutions, investment funds and investors and purchases by foreign institutions. The main index EGX30 declined by 1.37 per cent to stand at 15,921.25 points. The broader indices EGX70 and EGX100 dropped by 0.61 per cent and 0.95 per cent to stand at 795.88 points and 2,037.77 points, respectively, according to bourse data. Market capitalisation lost about LE8.9 billion to close at LE901.9 billion, compared to LE910.8 billion a day earlier. Meanwhile, stocks in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirate rose slightly on Monday amid weak volumes ahead of Eid holidays, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, while financial and real estate stocks sent Qatar down. Trading in the Gulf is usually muted ahead of holidays as some traders cash in shares and are generally cautious of any developments in global markets during the closure of their bourses. Eid holiday begins on Wednesday in the Saudi market and on Thursday in UAE markets, extending into the first few days of next week. In Saudi, the index added 0.03 per cent, with petro-chemicals firm SABIC and Al Rajhi Bank rising 0.6 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively. Samba financial group lost 0.9 per cent and Arab Bank fell 1.2 per cent. In Dubai, the main index rose 0.15 per cent, backed by a 0.4 per cent rise by Dubai Islamic Bank which rose for the second session a row after its 5.1 billion dirham rights issue was nearly three times oversubscribed. Arabtec fell 1.7 per cent, as traders took profit following a two-day rally that sent the shares 10.2 per cent higher. The Dubai market rallied over the past days with enhanced levels of liquidity as the emirate announced a series of initiatives to reduce corporate costs and stimulate growth. The Abu Dhabi index rose 0.3 per cent amid muted trading on a handful of shares. First Abu Dhabi Bank rose 0.8 per cent, while Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank fell 1.5 per cent. In Doha, the index lost 0.3 per cent as financial and real estate stocks were trading on a negative note. Qatar National Bank and Qatar Islamic Bank lost 0.6 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively while Barwa Real Estate shed 1.2 per cent.
