Cairo stocks conquer 8-year higher as currency weakens

Egypt’s stock market surged to another 8-year high as foreign investors continued to reprice equities as the local currency weakened against the U.S. dollar.

Main index, EGX30 gained 2.36 percent, to 11543.07 points, taking the index to yet another 8-year high in heavy trade.

The Egyptian pound weakened on Monday, trading between 17.30 to 17.70 against the dollar. The further the pound falls the cheaper local currency denominated shares are for foreign buyers.

The index has now risen 35.4 percent since the currency float and is up 64.8 percent year-to-date.

Other indices; EGX50 EWI index climbed 2.63 percent, to 1804.83 points; EGX20 climbed 3.22 percent, to 11320.97 points.

Mid- and small-cap index EGX70 hiked 1.98 percent, to 432.78 points. Price index, EGX100 added 2.11 percent, to 1034.03 points.

Market Cap

Market capitalisation gained 13.7 billion Egyptian pounds (around $ 781.6 million), to record 557.928 billion pounds during the closing session of Monday.

Turnovers

The bourse’s trading volume 754.014 million securities, with turnovers, closing at 2.331 billion pounds, exchanged through 48,199 transactions.

Also during the closing session, 193 listed securities have been traded in, 30 declined, 136 advanced; while 25 kept their previous levels.

Investors’ Activities

Foreign funds, which have been aggressive buyers of Egyptian blue chips since the currency was floated on November 3rd, were net buyers on Monday.

non-Arab foreign investors were net buyers capturing 11.55 percent of the total market, with a net equity of 145.000 million pounds, excluding the deals.

On the contrary, local and Arab investors were net sellers controlling 79.58 and 8.87 percent respectively of the total markets, with a net equity of 129.752 million pounds and 15.248 million pounds, respectively, excluding the deals.