Egyptian Stocks Fall Two Percent One Week Ahead of Protests

Vendor on the streets of Cairo, Egypt with an enlarged US dollar advertisement in the background. Egypt is facing a renewed economic crisis due to its alliance with imperialism., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Egyptian stocks fall 2 percent one week ahead of protests

Ahram Online, Sunday 23 Jun 2013

Investor fears one week before planned 30 June protests and institutional investor sales with approaching end of fiscal year pull index further down

Egypt's benchmark index plunged a further 2.19 percent to sit at 4,524 points on Sunday, with the approach of planned anti-government protests on 30 June and the advent of the end of the fiscal year.

"On the sell-side, public funds are re-evaluating their positions ahead of the end of the fiscal year on 31 June," explained a broker at Pharos Securities Brokerage.

"Meanwhile, the retail investors left in the market are maintaining their positions until 30 June on the belief that the event has already been discounted on the market, with the drop of the past weeks," she said.

The bourse has experienced a near-continuous and sharp decline this month, which brought the main index's losses since the beginning of the year to a formidable 17.2 percent.

The continued decline was largely driven by investor fears that anti-government protests planned for 30 June by the ‘Rebel’ campaign might turn violent.

Egyptian investors, who make up some 77 percent of the market, sold a net LE24.3 million worth of shares on Sunday, as 102 out of 156 listed stocks declined.

A large majority of EGX30 shares were among the losing stocks, with Orascom Construction Industries falling 3.89 percent, Palm Hills Development Company dropping 3.85 percent, and Commercial International Bank (Egypt) losing 3.43 percent.

Six of October Development & Investment (SODIC) slid 1.96 percent, while TMG Holding and Orascom Telecom both fell 0.26 percent.

Egyptian Financial Group-Hermes Holding Company dropped 1.12 percent.

Turnover of listed stocks reached LE135.9 million on Sunday while total turnover registered some LE442 million.

The broader EGX70 index slid 1.61 percent.

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