EGX 30 Nears 5000 Pts, OTH 7.57% Up As President Takes Office; Closing

As the newly elected President Mohamed Morsi assumed office during the weekend, the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) posted remarkable gains on Monday closing amounted to EGP 11.4 billion the capital market has reached EGP 351.200 billion.

Several shares were suspended for half an hour during early trading after they rose above the maximum 5% allowed under exchange rules.

Dr. Morsi was sworn in on Saturday as Egypt’s first Islamist, civilian and freely elected president, reaping the fruits of last year’s revolt against Hosni Mubarak

The main index, EGX30 jumped 4.97% to close at 4942.41 p.  EGX20 climbed 5.64% to conclude at 5759.4 p.

Meanwhile, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 soared 3.27% to finish at 435.82 p.  Price index EGX100 surged 3.52% to end at 755.21 p.

Traded volume reached 249.571 million securities worth 751.972 million, exchanged through 38.909 thousand transactions.

This was after trading in 180 listed securities; 16 declined and 158 advanced while 6 keeping their previous levels.

Egyptians were net buyers seizing 75.39% of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 72.077 million excluding the deals.

Arabs and non-Arab Foreigners were net sellers seizing 6.1% and 18.51% respectively, of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 18.942 million and EGP 53.136 million excluding the deals.

EGX’s leading shares witnessed collective upwards led by the shares of Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) (ORTE.CA) which soared by 7.57% to end at EGP 3.27. Shares of Commercial International Bank- Egypt (CIB) (COMI.CA) surged 7.13% to conclude at EGP 27.81. Shares owned by EFG-Hermes Holding (HRHO.CA) went up 5.42% to close at EGP 10.70.

Additionally, the Shares of Orascom Construction Industries (OCIC.CA) edged higher 4.10% to end at EGP 258.77. Shares of Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding (OTMT.CA) climbed 4.05% to hit EGP 1.54.

Sameh Mohi El Deen, Planet’s executive director, said on Monday that the consortium had only secured between 2.3 and 2.5 % of EFG because many institutional shareholders were unwilling to defy the bank’s biggest owners.

Planet, whose backers included telecoms tycoon Naguib Sawiris, one of Egypt’s richest men, was trying to secure a 5 percent stake in EFG-Hermes in the hope it would force management to consider its offer.

“The minority stake is very fragmented, so we could not reach out to as many shareholders as we wanted to,” Mohi El Deen told Reuters. “The main institutional shareholders, although they voted against the QInvest deal, still don’t want to go out of the herd.”

The Planet consortium said last month it was prepared to pay a minimum of EGP 13.50 per share for EFG, which would value it at $1.1 billion at least.

Mohi El Deen said Planet had done all it could to prove it had the financial firepower to buy EFG and the issue was now in the hands of Egypt’s financial market regulator, Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority – EFSA.

“If they really care about the interests of minorities, we are still willing to go to a tender offer subject to due diligence,” he said. “We have an amazing post-acquisition plan but there is nothing we can do now.”