Egypt Stocks Gain EGP3 bln at Closing After Brotherhood Leader Arrested

By Yomna Yasser On Aug 20, 2013

Egypt’s stock market closed higher on Tuesday after Muslim Brotherhood’s top leader was arrested, convincing some investors that the army-backed government was bringing the security situation under control. The Egyptian stocks gained EGP 3.4 billion backed by local and Arab buyers during the closing session of Tuesday.

The main gauge pared opening rallies to close above 5385 pts.

Egyptian authorities escalated their crackdown on deposed President Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood by arresting on Sunday evening the Islamist organization’s top leader.

Dr. Mohamed Badie was detained at a residential apartment in Nasr City in northeast Cairo “after information came to the security apparatus locating his place of hiding,” the state news agency reported.

Egyptian Exchange (EGX) is performing its sessions today normally with 4-hour trading sessions after 2-day transactions with reduced hours to three hours only.

Egypt’s benchmark index EGX30 surged by 1.09% to close at 5387.2 pts; while the EGX20 increased by 1.10% to end at 6270.53 p.
Meanwhile, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 inched up by 1.91% to conclude at 434.25 p. The price index EGX100 advanced by 1.22% to finish at 738.46 p.

The capital market has closed at EGP 356.413 billion on Tuesday.

Traded Volumes & Trades
Through the closing session of Tuesday, the trading volume has reached 63.531 million securities. For the traded value, it hit EGP 272.647 million, exchanged through 12.778 thousand transactions.

Also during the closing session, 153 listed securities have been traded in; 8 declined, 125 advanced; while 20 keeping their previous levels.

Investors’ Activity
Egyptians and Arabs’ buying transactions as they were net buyers seizing 66.64% and 6.45% respectively, of the total market, with net equities of EGP 38.709 million and EGP 2.920 million, excluding the deals.

Meanwhile, the non-Arab foreigners remained net sellers seizing 26.91% of the total market, with a net equity of EGP 41.630 million, excluding the deals.