By Mohammad Baali
Albawaba.com – Cairo
Egypt’s blue chips led a wave of decline amid sluggish trading in the first half of 2001, according to a Monday report in Al A’lam Al Yawm newspaper.
Trading values at the bourse declined by 61 percent from 26.7 billion pounds to 10.4 billions during the first half of 2001, compared to the corresponding period of the past year, said economy editor Ibrahim Al Sahari.
The decline came despite an increase in the volume of the traded shares from 501.7 million to 554.9 million during the same period.
The report points out that foreign investors’ activities in the market plummeted, as buyers dropped by 72 percent from 6.7 billion pounds to 1.58 billion, in addition to the decline of their trading as sellers by 56.3 percent from 4.1 billion pounds to 1.79 billion.
The major market indices declined, including the Hermes index, which fell 28.3 percent. Meanwhile, the International Financing Corporation (Egypt) index dipped by 25.9 percent, the Morgan Stanley (Egypt) index dropped by 20.4 percent, and the Egyptian Stock Market index slipped by 3.9 percent.
The telecom sector helped lead the market nosedive, dropping by 40 percent following the decline of NASDAQ by 20 percent during the first half of this year. Egypt’s MobiNil and Transcom Telecom are usually adversely affected by NASDAQ movements, according to the report.
MobiNil declined by 23 percent from 75.37 pounds/share to 58.03 pounds/share, while Transcom Telecom dropped by 54.6 percent from 51.91 pounds/share to 23.55 pounds/share to rank fifth on the list of declining stocks in the first half of this year.
Elsewhere, the Holding Company for Financial Investments, Lakah Group, topped the list of losers, sinking 73 percent from 2.41 pounds/share to 0.64 pounds/share following conflicting reports on the flight of its president, Rami Lakah, and his failure to settle his debts.
The Egyptian American Bank topped the list of gainers, jumping by 71 percent from 43.77 pounds/share to 56.81 pounds/share on rumors of the bank’s sale and bids by a number of international banking corporations – Albawaba.com
