Egypt Shares Inched down at Early Trade, Votes Extended for 3rd Day

As vote for presidential elections have been extended for extra third day, Egypt’s stocks opened lower on Wednesday losing 4.6 billion Egyptian pounds. Consequently, the main stock index, EGX30 started trading in red to hit 8580 points dragged by foreign selling pressures.

Presidential Elections Commission (PEC) decided to extend voting by one day, until Wednesday to provide Egyptians, especially those who are currently residing outside of their hometowns, with the opportunity to cast their votes.

El-Sisi and leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi are the only two contenders in the presidential race.

Indices
The Benchmark EGX30 pushed down by 1.79% to 8580.06 p, and EGX20 plummeted by 1.79% to 10341.97 p.

In addition, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 dropped by 0.79% to 608.95 p.  Price index EGX100 went down by 0.86% to 1064.09 p.

Furthermore, market capitalization reached EGP 490.076 billion, according to data compiled by Amwal Al Ghad English at 11:21 a.m. Cairo time (08:21 GMT as Egypt turned to Daylight saving time).

Trading Volumes & Values

The trading volume has recorded 62.172 million securities worth EGP 187.588 million, exchanged through 6029 transactions during Wednesday opening.

Also during the opening session, 113 listed securities have been traded in; 94 fell, 6 advanced; while 13 keeping their previous levels.

Investors’ Activities

The non-Arab foreign and Arab investors were net sellers seizing at early trade on Wednesday 7.43% and 12.23% respectively of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 6.592 million and EGP 25.910 million respectively, excluding the deals.

On the other hand, Egyptian investors were net buyers capturing 80.34% of the total market, with a net equity of EGP 32.503 million, excluding the deals.