Egypt stock market lost 2.2% in rate-hike and Brexit vote week

Weighed by the central bank’s latest rise in key interest rates and ahead of United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union, Egypt’s main index EGX30 plunged 2.2 percent in a week to 7253.31 points.

Market capitalisation incurred weekly losses worth 6.4 billion Egyptian pounds ($725.3 million) ending at 398.667 Egyptian pounds on Thursday amidst investors’ fears about a loss of British investment and demand for Egyptian exports.  Britain’s vote to leave the European Union forced Friday the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron and dealt the biggest blow to the European project of greater unity since World War Two.

Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decided in its latest meeting to raise interest rates by 100 basis points after core inflation rate hit a seven-year high in May. The bank raised the overnight deposit rate, the overnight lending rate and the rate of the CBE’s main operation to 11.75 percent, 12.75 percent and 12.25 percent respectively.

Indexes: The main gauge index, EGX30 registered its highest point on Sunday closing at 7337.97 points, whereas its lowest point recorded on Wednesday at 7156.49 points.

Mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 pushed down 3.3 percent in a week closing at 348 points during Thursday’s session, compared to 360 points at the end of a week earlier.
Price index, EGX100 also tumbled by2.7 percent finishing at 745 points during Thursday’s session, from 766 points at the end of a week earlier.

Humble Turnovers
During week, the trading volume hit around 347.6 million securities, compared to 767 million. For the traded value, it reached 1.3 billion pounds against 3.8 billion pounds a week earlier.

During Ramadan, the trading sessions start at 10 a.m. Cairo Local Time (8:00 GMT) and end at 1:30 p.m. (11:30 GMT), reducing trading hours by one hour.