Egypt’s stock market ended lower on Sunday driven by local and non-Arab foreign selling pressures.

The country’s main index inched down 0.12 percent, to 7904.53 points, with a little over half of the traded shares declining. Orascom Telecom (OTMT.CA), a stock favoured by local traders, dropped 1.9 percent in active trade.

But some real estate companies gained, as investors favoured property-related companies because of their inflation-hedge appeal after the central bank unexpectedly left key interest rates unchanged at a monetary policy meeting on Thursday.

Sixth of October Development and Investment (SODIC) (OCDI.CA) rose 2.0 percent and Talaat Mostafa Group (TMGH.CA) added 0.6 percent.

Other indices; EGX50 EWI index rose 0.06 percent, to 1322.23 points; EGX20 grew 0.13 percent, to 7952.45 points.

Mid- and small-cap index EGX70 dropped 0.49 percent, to 343.96 points. Price index, EGX100 plummeted 1.30 percent, to 778.47 points.

Market Cap

Market capitalisation incurred losses worth 1.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($169 million), to record 405.711 billion pounds during the closing session of Sunday.

Turnovers: Weak

The bourse’s trading volume reached 69.734 million securities, with turnovers, closing at 291.121 million pounds, exchanged through 10,078 transactions.

Also during the closing session, 169 listed securities have been traded in, 60 declined, 60 advanced; while 46 kept their previous levels.

Investors’ Activities

local and non-Arab foreign investors were net sellers controlling 82.75 and 9 percent respectively of the total markets, with a net equity of 7.556 million pounds and 14.076 million pounds, respectively, excluding the deals.

On the contrary, Arab investors were net buyers capturing 8.25 percent of the total market, with a net equity of 21.632 million pounds, excluding the deals.