Supporting Army Move, Egypt Indices Gain EGP22 bln
A new sense of optimism is filling Egypt’s stock market about witnessing political and economic breakthroughs following the army’s declaration on Wednesday evening. The Egyptian bourse has set a new record ending sessions of this week with remarkable gains of EGP 22.66 billion during the closing session of Thursday.
The stock gains posted on Thursday reflect the investors’ confidence and optimism about the upcoming phase after the ouster of the country’s president Mohamed Morsi over the millions went down to streets demanding his departure in a scene that remind the world of the January 2011 uprising that overthrew the long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak.
Three hours after the 48-hour deadline passes, the Egyptian army chief Abdel Fatah al-Sissi announced in a statement aired at 8:30 p.m. Cairo time (06:30 GMT) a new interim administration headed by the country’s Constitutional Court Head who shall form a strong consensus government and supervise new elections to write down a new constitution and to choose a new head of state.
The commander of Egypt’s armed forces al-Sissi, stated that the army has given President Mohamed Morsi a 48-hour ultimatum in order to respond to the people’s will but the president refused stressing on the legitimacy and being in power. The army chief added that Morsi is no longer president and the chief of constitutional court would assume the task of interim president during a transitional period for Morsi failed to reach a solution with his opponents by the end of a Wednesday deadline.
The Egyptian Exchange’s indices have soared exceeding 5% levels on Thursday closing.
Egypt’s benchmark index EGX30 soared by 7.31% to close at 5334.54 p, highest in a year; while the EGX20, it jumped by 8.50% to end 6002.95 p.
Meanwhile, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 pushed up by 9.39% to conclude at 422.62 p. The price index EGX100 also surged by 7.56% to finish at 728.91 p.
The capital market has closed at EGP 355.424 billion by Thursday afternoon.
Investors’ Activities
Local investors were celebrating the new interim phase in Egypt as they were net buyers seizing 59.73% of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 140.307 million excluding the deals.
Meanwhile, the non-Arab foreigners and Arabs were net sellers seizing 31.37% and 8.91% respectively, of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 102.522 million and EGP 37.785 million, excluding the deals.
Traded Volumes & Trades
Through the closing session of Thursday, the trading volume of 58.577 million securities. For the traded value, it reached EGP 446.961 million, exchanged through 12.654 thousand transactions.
Also during the closing session, 180 listed securities have been traded in; one solely declined, 173 advanced; while 6 keeping their previous levels.
New Interim Head of State
The head of Egypt’s supreme constitutional court, Adli Mansour, has been sworn in as interim head of state on Thursday morning after the armed forces overthrew elected President Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday for failing to listen to mass protests’ demands to share power.
Judge Adli Mansour was born on December 23, 1945 and graduated from Cairo University with a B.A. in law in 1967, before gaining a masters’ degree in the same field there in 1969.
