Egyptian stocks gripped by sideways trend

Egyptian stocks gripped by sideways trend

 

By Ahmed Kamel

 

Egypt’s equities are expected to be gripped by a sideways trend this week. Foreign investors, especially non-Arabs, will continue their selloff trend as fund managers will shift to speculation on gold and food commodities.  

However, a sideways sentiment may lift the main index to retest 11,000 points later this month after a profit-taking trend.

Foreign funds will keep an eye on the foreign exchange rate of the US dollar on the local market as selloffs of the Egyptian stocks continue.

The benchmark index EGX30 added 1.79 per cent to 13,525 points. The broader indices EGX70 EWI and EGX100 EWI rose by 1.8 and 1.97 per cent to 1,477 and 2,289 points respectively.

Volume rose to LE16.7 billion last week, up from LE5.9 billion the previous week. The market capitalization added LE6.9 billion, or 1.2 per cent, to LE596.8 billion, market data showed.

Locals, Arabs and non-Arabs accounted for 73.8, 4.6 and 21.6 per cent of trades respectively, bourse data showed.

Excluding deals, Arabs were net buyers of LE26.2 million. Non-Arab investors were net sellers of LE309.3 million.

Arab and non-Arab investors have been net sellers of LE1.55 billion and LE9.75 billion, respectively, since the beginning of the year.