Stocks in Egypt slip on profit taking after 12 sessions of gains

Egypt’s stock market fell on Monday as investors booked profits in blue chips after 12 straight days of significant gains fueled by pound depreciation and IMF’s approval on $12 billion bailout.

Main index, EGX30, which soared 28.1 percent since the pound was floated on November 3rd, slipped 2.04 percent, to 10694.41 points.

Many blue chips rocketed after the float partly because the depreciation of the Egyptian pound meant companies’ dollar-denominated global depositary receipts were suddenly worth much more in local currency. But that effect now appears to have largely run its course.

The Cairo-listed shares of Commercial International Bank (COMI.CA), for example, fell back 3.94 percent to 66.60 pounds on Monday. At $4.26, its GDRs are worth 67.11 pounds at an exchange rate of 15.75 pounds to the dollar.

Other indices; EGX50 EWI index rose 0.45 percent, to 1669.52 points; EGX20 inched down 1.11 percent, to 10196.86 points.

Mid- and small-cap index EGX70 grew 0.14 percent, to 415.33 points. Price index, EGX100 dropped 0.76 percent, to 989.43 points.

Market Cap

Market capitalisation incurred losses worth 4.36 billion Egyptian pounds (around $282 million), to record 524.394 billion pounds during the closing session of Monday.

Turnovers

The bourse’s trading volume 646.881 million securities, with turnovers, closing at 1.690 billion pounds, exchanged through 42,776 transactions.

Also during the closing session, 186 listed securities have been traded in, 53 declined, 106 advanced; while 25 kept their previous levels.

Investors’ Activities

Local and Arab investors were net sellers controlling 72.14 and 13.19 percent respectively of the total markets, with a net equity of 55.538 million pounds and 50.794 million pounds, respectively, excluding the deals.

On the contrary, non-Arab foreign investors were net buyers capturing 14.67 percent of the total market, with a net equity of 106.332 million pounds, excluding the deals.