Market report: Bourse hardly moves in a fluctuating end of week session

Foreign sales pushed the exchange downwards at the beginning of the session but Egyptian individual buys managed to meet Tuesday's level

Egypt's stocks survived a fluctuating trading session on Thursday, with the EGX30, the Bourse's main indicator gaining a meagre five points (0.1 per cent) to reach 5,097 points on Individual investors buys.
EGX30 began the session at a steady decline and the index reached 5,076 points only to rebound at around midday.
"Foreigners' selling activity was the main reason behind today's downward trend at the beginning of the session," says Ashraf Abdul Aziz head of institutions sales at Arabia Online Securities.
"Yet, the market recovered again because of individuals' strong activity," he added.
EGX performed well in yesterday's session, gaining 2.42 per cent, on the back of political assurances provided by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).
Some observers received yesterday's gains as a possible rebound of the exchange. However, today's performance indicates fluctuating times ahead.
"Individuals are much less rational than institutions and they are so much affected by political good news," Abdel Aziz explains. "That elaborates how the SCAF news triggered so much optimism among individuals in yesterday's and today's sessions."
Individuals comprised around 72 per cent of the LE465 million market turnover, a higher than average share, with net buying at LE38 million.
Abdel Aziz indicated that the Bourse has become relatively immune to news, positive or negative, in comparison to pre-revolution times. He thinks that the market trend over the last six months should send positive waves among investors locally and abroad.
"Before the revolution, if Mubarak sneezed the market would decline by five per cent," he recalled. "Now, we have all these big critical events taking place and the market is strong and kicking...the crisis has actually made our market stronger and more able to absorb shocks.”
Foreign shares in today's session declined significantly to 20 per cent after averaging around 35 per cent in the past two days. They continued to be net sellers following slumps in European markets.
EGX70, the broader indicator hosting smaller shares gained 0.95 per cent; which is explained by the domination of individuals trading who generally speculate on EGX70 stocks.
Colours on the board varied, with green prevailing over most EGX70 stocks. Out of 185 traded shares, 126 gained while 44 lost value. Smaller stocks were among the top gainers while performance of big tickets fluctuated.
Orascom for Construction Industries and Telecom Egypt, the two largest listed companies, prevented a decline in EGX30 as both gained at 1.14 and 1.18 respectively.
On the other hand, other leading stocks such as Orascom Telecom, CIB and Mobinil finished in red at 0.5 per cent, 0.82 per cent and 2.54 per cent respectively.