Encouraged By Egypt’s New Interim Govt, Stocks Gain EGP4 bln at Closing

Following the appointment of the new interim government, Egypt’s stock market has closed higher on Wednesday posting gains of EGP 4.4 billion. The benchmark has also surged by 0.6% today.

Economist Hazem El-Beblawi, a compromise candidate supported by a key Islamist party, was named Egypt’s interim prime minister Tuesday afternoon.

The interim President Adli Mansour also appointed former U.N. nuclear agency chief Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei as deputy to the president, responsible for foreign affairs, spokesman Ahmed El-Musalamani said.

Egypt’s hard-line Islamist Al-Nour Party, which has objected to several candidates put forward by the military-backed interim government, had thrown its support behind El-Beblawi’s appointment. The party said it was still studying ElBaradei’s appointment.

The Egyptian Exchange’s indices were wavering in green notes during the closing session of Wednesday.

Egypt’s benchmark index EGX30 surged by 0.66% to close at 5325.14 p; while the EGX20, it climbed by 1.88% to end 6191.2 p.

Meanwhile, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 jumped by 2.67% to conclude at 435.25 p.  The price index EGX100 also inched up by 1.82% to finish at 742.19 p.

The capital market has closed at EGP 356.584 billion on Wednesday.

It is worth noting the EGX’s management decided that the timing of official trading session during the holy month of Ramadan will be from 10:30 a.m., until 01:30 p.m. (08:30 GMT – 11:30 GMT).

Investors’ Activities

Arabs and the non-Arab foreigners investors remained net sellers seizing 4.35% and 23.13% respectively, of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 1.968 million and EGP 60.067 million, excluding the deals.

Meanwhile,  Egyptian investors were net buyers seizing 72.53% of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 62.036 million excluding the deals.

Traded Volumes & Trades

Through the closing session of Wednesday, the trading volume has reached 153.372 million securities. For the traded value, it hit EGP 515.802 million, exchanged through 21.129 thousand transactions.

Also during the closing session, 171 listed securities have been traded in; 18 declined, 132 advanced; while 21 keeping their previous levels.