Stocks in Egypt end week 0.3% lower

Egypt’s stocks fell Thursday as non-Arab foreign investors sell. Main index, EGX30 dropped 0.30 percent, to 7913.94 points.

Cairo’s three established mobile phone operators have declined to buy fourth-generation (4G) service licences, two Egyptian telecoms officials told Reuters.

The only operator which had acquired the licence last month was Telecom Egypt (ETEL.CA), which jumped 2.2 percent on Thursday. The country’s fixed-line monopoly will now enter the mobile phone market directly for the first time, giving it a distinctive edge over other operators in the industry.

“The main term in the licence creating the deadlock, in our view, is the dollar portion of the licence, presumably which the operators would find difficult to fulfil, while the government would be keen to receive the dollar payments in one go,” said a note by Cairo’s Naeem Brokerage.

Telecom Egypt had on August 31 paid 5.2 billion Egyptian pounds ($585.59 million) for the licence, 50 percent of which was paid in dollars. The rest will be paid over four years.

Analysts at Naeem Brokerage added that such an “impasse” between regulators and mobile operators could cause damage to the future prospects of their operations in the country, and open the door wider for other international players to acquire the licence.

Other indices; EGX50 EWI index edged down 0.32 percent, to 1321.44 points; EGX20 fell 0.15 percent, to 7942.22 points.

Mid- and small-cap index EGX70 dipped 0.09 percent, to 345.67 points. Price index, EGX100 lost 0.12 percent, to 788.73 points.

Market Cap

Market capitalisation incurred losses worth 526 million Egyptian pounds ($59.2 million), to record 407.250 billion pounds during the closing session of Thursday.

Turnovers

The bourse’s trading volume reached 112.196 million securities, with turnovers, closing at 470.060 million pounds, exchanged through 12,092 transactions.

Also during the closing session, 173 listed securities have been traded in, 61 declined, 45 advanced; while 63 kept their previous levels.

Investors’ Activities

Non-Arab foreign investors were net sellers capturing 29.44 percent of the total market, with a net equity of 32.334 million pounds, excluding the deals.

On the contrary, local and Arab investors were net buyers controlling 53.71 and 16.85 percent respectively of the total markets, with a net equity of 2.741 million pounds and 29.592 million pounds, respectively, excluding the deals.