Market Report: As Egypt market ignores political developments, turnover rises
Egyptian stocks slipped a fraction on Thursday with the main EGX30 benchmark dropping by 0.05 per cent to close at 4,419 points. The constitutional court decision leading to the dissolution of parliament, however, did not have much effect on the session.
"The news came just 30 minutes before the session ended, it did not have the time to influence trading," Issa Fathy, head of the securities division at the Cairo chamber of commerce, told Ahram Online.
The constitutional court announced on Thursday afternoon that Egypt's Parliamentary Elections Law – which regulated last year's legislative polls – to be similarly unconstitutional. The latter verdict means that both the People's Assembly and the consultative Shura Council (the lower and upper houses of Egypt's parliament) will likely be dissolved in advance of fresh elections.
The decision was announced at around 2 pm, just 30 minutes before the market closed its door. The market will be closed on Sunday for the elections and will reopen on Monday.
"But I think the fact that elections will be carried out on schedule is very positive for the stock market," Fathy adds. Turnover edged slightly above lows witnessed during the past few sessions, marking LE305 million. "The market is relatively more active today because of Orascom Telecom and Media Technology (OTMT)," Fathy explained.
OTMT saw 80 million in turnover on Thursday, the most active in the session. The company announced on Tuesday it would distribute LE1.05 ($0.17) per share dividend following the sale of its main asset, the Egyptian mobile company Mobinil.
The share surged on Wednesday but dropped 2.22 per cent today. Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) was also highly active in the session, marking LE43 million. Cairo investment bank EFG-Hermes marked LE40 million in volume, but the stock price closed at its opening value of LE9.99. Out of 168 traded shares, 100 gained value while 49 dropped. The broader EGX70 index rose by 0.51 per cent.
Ahram Online
Video
Spot Lights
BBC SportWhen it's put to him that he might be the most talented athlete in the world to hold a racquet, a bashful Ramy Ashour admits "that's pretty great".The 25-year-old Egyptian is more than just the current squash world number one - his elastic, unorthodox brilliance and charisma could be the key to squash breaking out beyond its four walls and regaining a place on the wider sporting
Ministers in Prime Minister Hisham Qandil's cabinet following the recent reshuffle (new appointees are in italics): 1. Minister of Agriculture Ahmed Mahmoud Ali El-Gizawi2. Minister of Antiquities Ahmed Eissa3. Minister of Aviation Wael Maadawi4. Minister of Communication Atef Helmy5. Minister of Culture
AP— April 15, 2013: Two bombs explode in the packed streets near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 140.— January 17, 2011: A backpack bomb is placed along a Martin Luther King Day parade route in Spokane, Washington, meant to kill and injure participants in a civil rights march, but is found and disabled before it can explode. White
The convenient marriage between Iran and the Arab left would have been unthinkable only a few years ago, given the traditional ideological paradoxes between patriarchal Persian Shiism, on the one hand, and leftist orthodoxy on the other.Indeed, a casual viewer of Hizbullah's Al-Manar television, or the Iranian-funded Al-Mayadin TV, these days would probably think that the two Shia propaganda
