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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 July 1999 Issue No. 437 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 July 1999 Issue No. 437
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Focus Books Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Record recovery
By Sherine Abdel-RazekThe last two weeks witnessed the market's best performance during this year in terms of both the general index and the value of transactions.
The capital market index not only broke the 480-points level for the first time in its life, but also maintained its high level for two consecutive weeks.
It was the increasing volume of transactions that pushed up the market, allowing it to reach LE1 billion and LE830 million respectively in the two-week period. These figures represent quite high weekly trading volumes compared to overall May transactions of LE2.4 billion.
The good performance was mainly energised by transactions involving two private heavyweight companies, MobiNil and the new market star, Ezz for Steel Rebars. The volume of MobiNil transactions cornered a significant part of overall market transactions during the two weeks, 45 per cent and 29 per cent respectively. However, the performance of the shares was mixed. In the first week, MobiNil's share value sky-rocketed, reaching its highest ever level and settling at LE83. However, the stock reversed its upward trend in the second week amid a correction movement, shedding some of its strength to end last week at LE76.
This was not the case for Ezz for Steel Rebars which experienced an upward trend during the two weeks. The first week witnessed the execution of private placement transactions worth LE325 million through which the ownership of 25 million shares of its equity was transferred from the company's founder, businessman Ahmed Ezz, to foreign and local investors. The deal was executed at LE13 a share, which means that the shares have gained 147 percent since they were traded at LE5.5 prior to the deal.
This healthy performance continued during the following week as Ezz's share value rose to LE14.87. The company's share registered the five per cent daily permitted increase in share value for three consecutive trading days of the week. The week ending 1 July was a short week with only 4 days of trading because of a holiday.
Orascom for Construction and Industries was another busy stock during the two weeks. It capitalised on news that two of its subsidiaries have won $8.5 million worth of contracts in Qatar. The stock ended last week at LE47.7, compared to LE46.44 the previous week.
Bond transactions also have contributed to the recovery, especially during the second week, with the demand concentrated on Treasury Bonds 2000. These were traded at LE135.5 each. Transactions on 22,000 bonds added LE22.7 million to the overall market transactions during the week.
