Egypt's stocks close week on high, despite unhappy investors

Ahram Online, Thursday 3 Jul 2014

A capital gains tax passed this week by Egypt's government has soured investors' enthusiasm in the bourse

Egypt Stock Market
Egypt's stock exchange (Photo:Reuters)

Egypt's stocks ended trading on Thursday with the highest rise in the week, despite a poor performance from investors that echoed a general displeasure with the bourse's recently ratified tax.

The market's benchmark EGX30 rose 1.4 percent to record 8,258 points in a session that saw a modest daily turnover of listed securities worth LE485.2 million.

"Investors have realised that the capital gains tax has become a matter of fact and won't be reversed, as it will start on Sunday, so they tried to curb their losses," Eissa Fathy, vice head of the securities division at Cairo Chamber of Commerce, told Ahram Online.

Egypt's government on Tuesday passed a 10 percent tax on capital gains and dividends in the stock market.

The broader index EGX70 inched up 0.6 percent.

The trading session saw domestic and foreign investors as net buyers of some LE303,000 and LE4.4 million worth of shares respectively.

Blue chip Commercial International Bank (CIB) was the prominent loser during the day, dipping 0.1 percent to close at LE35.11 per share.

Telecom shares Global Telecom Holding (GTH) and Telecom Egypt (TE) rose 3.1 percent and 1.5 percent to register LE5.33 and LE13.45 per share respectively.

Listed real estate developers Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG), Palm Hills Development (PHD) and Six of October Development and Investment (SODIC) gained 1.7 percent (LE8.54 per share), 2.7 percent (LE4 per share) and 2 percent (LE34 per share) respectively.

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