The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) saw a positive performance during the first half (1H) of this year, despite the slowdown in the government IPOs programme. The benchmark index EGX30 increased by 21% in 1H 2023, and 7.59% in the second quarter (2Q), reaching 17,665 points. Dealers expected a rise in market indicators after the end of the holiday season, and the stability of the exchange rate, with expectations of stabilization of global economic conditions. The EGX70 EWI rose by 25.96% in the second quarter to 3535 points, while the EGX30 Capped recorded an increase in 2Q 2023, by about 9.58% to 21,419 points. The broader EGX100 rose by 23.86% in 2Q to settle at 5,242 points. Hisham Hassan, investment manager at Thndr, said that the stock market indices achieved a positive performance, enabling the EGX30 to rise and reach levels of 18,000 points, supported by the purchases of Egyptian institutions, despite the fact that many stocks did not reach fair values. He added that the stock market has proven its ability to absorb economic shocks, expecting the main index to breach 18,000 points and achieve a new historical peak. He suggested that economic conditions will continue to be stable, including price inflation, the exchange rate of the pound against the dollar, and an improvement in interest rates. Hassan added that the EGX70 EWI achieved an upward positive performance during the second quarter of 2023, reaching 3,500 points. The market witnessed trading values of about EGP 179.8bn in the second quarter of the year, through the circulation of 44.3 billion securities, by carrying out 4.2 million buying and selling transactions, compared to the previous quarter's transactions, which amounted to EGP 193.2bn billion pounds, and the amount of trading of 36.7 billion securities, through 4.4 million. Moreover, the market capitalization of listed shares increased by 10.77% to EGP 1.162trn. Mohamed Ismail, Director of the Technical Analysis Department at Sigma Capital, said that the second quarter of this year witnessed strong fluctuations of the indices through strong declines and rises, but the indices were able to close at positive heights at the end of the current quarter. He added that the EGX70 targets the level of 4,000 points after the end of the corrective movement in the third quarter. Ismail expects the positive performance of the indices on the stock exchange to continue during the third quarter of the year 2023, and an exit from the current wave of fluctuations as a result of the stability of the global and local economic conditions. He explained that the EGX30 index is moving in a cross direction between the levels of 16,500 and 18,200 points, suggesting that the index will go beyond the levels of 18,100 points during the coming sessions. Ismail advised investors to choose liquid stocks with large cash flows, and stocks with positive performance during the first half of the year, which were not affected by market fluctuations during the last period as well, and focus on the real estate, medical, and non-banking financial services sectors during the third quarter of 2023. Foreign transactions recorded a net sale value of EGP 3.15bn, with a 5.9% acquisition rate of buying and selling on stocks, while Arabs tended to buy, with net transactions amounting to EGP 427m, with an acquisition rate of 7.9%, after excluding deals. Stocks accounted for 73.73% of the Egyptian Stock Exchange's transactions during the second quarter of 2023, while the value of bond trading represented about 26.27% of transactions.
