During Wednesday closing session, the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) has extended posting losses of EGP 2.63 billion as the capital market has amounted to EGP 333.243 billion. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi asked Tuesday Hisham Kandil, the minister of water resources and irrigation little known outside Egypt, to form a new government, state media reported on Tuesday. Kandil was a senior bureaucrat in the ministry until he was appointed minister in July last year in the wake of the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak. The main index, EGX30 dived 1.53% to close at 4745.5 p. EGX20 sank 1.25% to conclude at 5442.65 p. "This is quite a surprise as most of the names put around had been from the financial sector. The market is definitely reacting negatively," said Mohamed Radwan at Pharos Securities. Meanwhile, the mid- and small-cap index, the EGX70 edged down 0.36% to conclude at 424.26 p. Price index EGX100 inched lower 0.72% to finish at 725.63 p. Traded volume reached 120.934 million securities worth EGP 211.999 million, exchanged through 13.215 transactions. This was after trading in 154 listed securities; 103 declined 36 advanced while 15 keeping their previous levels. Egyptians and Arabs were net buyers amid the announcement of new cabinet formation seizing 71.36% and 9.22% respectively, of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 26.895 million and EGP 6.642 million excluding the deals. The reason behind EGX30' early downwards was non-Arab Foreigners were net sellers seizing 19.41% of the total markets, with a net equity of EGP 33.537 million excluding the deals. Leading Shares: EGX's leading shares witnessed collective downwards led by the shares of Commercial International Bank- Egypt (CIB) (COMI.CA) which dived 2.72% to close at EGP 27.49. Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding: The shares of Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding (OTMT.CA) sank 2.00% to end at EGP 0.49. Orascom Construction Industries: Orascom Construction Industries (OCIC.CA) plummeted by 1.92% to conclude at EGP 248.50. Citadel Capital: Shares of Citadel Capital retreated 1.69% to end at EGP 2.91. Pharos Research commented on the news that Citadel Capital (CCAP.CA) entered into a termination agreement with Golden Crescent Investments, an Opportunity-Specific Fund controlled by the firm, to end the previously announced sale of the National Petroleum Company (NPC) to Sea Dragon Energy due to the uncertainty regarding the date of sale as well as ongoing economic turbulence locally and internationally. Pharos' Hamza Al-Assad described the termination of the sale agreement as cash-negative as well as strategically-negative in as much as it continues to undermine CCAP efforts to exit from non-core investments and increase its stakes in core investments. “In March 2011, CCAP had agreed with Sea Dragon to purchase NPC for a total consideration of $147.5 million, split into $87.5 million in the form of Sea Dragon shares and $60.0 million in cash. It is interesting to note that the deadline for Sea Dragon to finalize the sale was set at 10 August 2012", he added. Orascom Telecom Holding: The shares of Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) (ORTE.CA) inched lower 1.54% to finish at EGP 3.20. Talaat Moustafa Group Shares of Talaat Moustafa Group (TMGH.CA) tumbled by 1.00% to close at EGP 3.96. EFG-Hermes Holding: The shares of EFG-Hermes Holding (HRHO.CA) edged down 0.18% to finish at EGP 10.90.
