Egyptian bourse suffers $4.5b capital loss

The Egyptian stock exchange suffered a $4.5 billion loss in market capitalisation in August due to the repercussions of the US credit rating downgrade by Standard and Poor's. Market capital for the stock exchange declined by 7 per cent to 357.3 billion Egyptian pounds at the end of August from 384 billion pounds in the beginning of the month, according to the monthly report released by the bourse. "Investors did not lose this amount," Ebrahim Al Nemr, head of technical analysis at Naeem, said. "This was a loss on paper. The real loss was the decline of EGX 30 indicators to 4,400 in Ramadan. "This had a negative impact on shareholders and was a bigger loss to the investors." Trial The trial of former president Hosni Mubarak, which began on August 3, should not affect investors negatively, he added. "The trial of Mubarak is not related," Al Nemr said. "He is a former president and he is being tried for past mistakes. "But investors are concerned about the future. The trial should overall lead to a more positive investment environment." The primary and secondary market indicators also witnessed a decline with EGX 30 dropping by 7.86 per cent to 4,640. EGX 70, the bourse for small and medium companies, fell 8.19 per cent to 589. Similarly, The EGX 100 dropped 8.8. per cent to close at 870 at the end of August. The total value of trading during the month rose to 12.5 billion pounds, while the amount of trading was 1.55 billion stocks done through 435,000 transactions. Transactions by Egyptians formed 84.35 per cent of the total in the market, 11.88 per cent by non-Arabs, and 3.77 per cent by Arabs. The majority of transactions at the stock exchange, 63.33 per cent, were done by companies leaving 36.67 per cent of the transactions to individuals. These companies recorded total sales worth 187.33 million pounds. Analysts predict that the market will continue to see a downward trend in September. Instability "Investors need to take decisions for the future," Al Nemr said. "But there is instability and lack of direction. The parliamentary elections will be at the end of September but there is no clear political and economic direction. "When there is uncertainty in politics, the economic direction is unclear."