Egypt shares fall in a thin trade amid uncertainty about government IPO programme

Daily News Egypt
2 Min Read

The main index EGX30 of the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) closed Sunday’s trading session 0.88% lower at 13,524.67 points after the government decided to delay the IPO programme amid tough market conditions.

The EGX70 index of small and medium shares edged down 0.13% to 692.03 points. Meanwhile, the EGX100 index gained 0.07% to close at 1.742.02 points. The EGX50 index retreated 0.85% to reach 2,127 points.

Liquidity of EGX totalled EGP 399.23m after 117.29 million shares were exchanged.

Foreign investors executed a net sell of EGP 8.48m, while Egyptian and Arab traders registered a net purchase of EGP 6.72m and EGP 1.75m, respectively.

Market cap lost EGP 3.5bn ($195.18m) to close Sunday’s session at EGP 763.4bn ($42.4bn).

Egypt has shelved plans to sell a 4.5% additional stake of Eastern Tobacco Company, attributing the decision to tough market conditions and fluctuations in the global stock market, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Friday.

The ministry added that the postponement decision was “in light of the recent developments in the global financial markets … because of the coincidence of many external factors, most notably the increasing protection policies followed and the trade war between the United States and China and the difficulties facing a large number of markets”.

The shares were due to be floated this month, while the statement did not mention a new date for its implementation.

“The secondary sale of Eastern company shares could take place sometimes by the end of the next month,” a senior governmental source told Daily News Egypt.

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