Egypt’s stock market rose slightly by the end of trading Sunday, the first session of the week, reversing the significant decline that began more than a week ago.
The main index, EGX 30 — which tracks the performance of the country’s top 30 companies — went up by 0.22 percent to gain 11 points, reaching 5,501 points, with transactions of LE232.2 million.
EGX 70, which tracks the performance of small- and medium-sized shares, went down 0.04 percent, while the wider EGX 100 index dropped 0.39 percent.
Starting 21 February, EGX 30 had fallen 80.5 points, amid growing concerns among investors about the country’s ability to secure a US$4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.
Stock market brokers said Egyptians and Arabs purchased shares, while non-Arab foreigners tended to sell by the end of the session.
Securities industry employees said four associations for securities employees planned to hold an emergency meeting Wednesday to discuss ways to respond to the government’s proposal to impose taxes on stock exchange transactions.
Financial analyst Mohsen Adel, vice president of the Egyptian Society for the Study of Financing and Investment, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the four associations completely reject the imposition of taxes on stock market transactions.
The Cabinet had referred to the Shura Council a Finance Ministry proposal to impose a 10 percent tax on dividends for companies.
But more companies’ stocks lost rather than gained value Sunday, with the stocks of 96 companies down and 35 up. However, those that gained pulled significant weight, improving by 39,604 points, while the other 96 lost 48,982 points. Thirty companies listed remained unchanged.
Ezz Steel was among those that gained, picking up 1.31 percentage points. Among those that lost points were Misr Cement Qena, down 3.68 percentage points; Arabia Investments and Development Holding Company, down 5.56 percentage points; and Eastern Tobacco, which lost 4.60 percentage points.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
