News and developments on African capital markets, includes: African securities, African stock exchanges/stock markets, African equities, African bonds, African private equity/venture capital, and African social impact investment
The Egyptian Exchange is to introduce new products and trading innovations, including remote orders placed abroad, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), intraday trades and short selling. Mohamed Abdel Salam, chairman of the Exchange, says transparency is up and political uncertainty down in Egypt.
The Egyptian Exchange opened today at 10:30am after nearly 2 months, and was immediately swamped with a flood of selling, which saw the index plunge nearly 10% and trading halted a few minutes after the exchange opened. After a regulated halt, the EGX 30 Benchmark slowly edged up before drifting through to close at 5,142.71 after a further 2 hours, down 8.9% on the day.
The Egyptian Exchange has failed to meet another self-imposed deadline to reopen on 6 March, and investors are increasingly unhappy. In a statement on 3 March the stock exchange said the delay was linked to the resignation of Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik.
Investor confidence in Egypt is likely to be further undermined after officials again delayed the reopening of the Egyptian Exchange from today (1 March). It was announced late on Monday that trading would not start today at 10:30am but would again be put off until Sunday, 6 March. There have been repeated delays to the reopening.
The Egyptian Exchange is set to reopen tomorrow (1 March) after it closed on 27 Jan. in the popular uprising that saw President Hosni Mubarak resign on 11 Feb. It was due to open earlier, but delayed because strikes were devastating the banks on which it relies for clearing and settlement. Some selling is anticipated.
A leading African private equity firm, Citadel Capital based in Cairo, says change in Egypt brings “very compelling opportunities for long-term private equity investors in Egypt and beyond.” But it warned in a recent press release: “The situation on the ground in Egypt remains fluid” and there could be “short-term impact on both our investment and divestiture plans.”
The Egyptian Exchange has again postponed its reopening and says it will only open when the strike-hit banking system gets back to normal. Dates mentioned include 20 or 22 Feb, and the bourse is likely to introduce rules to limit trading volatility. It closed on 27 Jan after a 16% fall in its EGX30 Index.
The Egyptian Exchange has postponed its reopening until Wednesday 16 February. The stock exchange closed on 27 Jan after the main EGX 30 Index fell 16% in a week, and was due to open again 13 Feb. Talks continue with regulators, stockbrokers and the Misr for Central Clearing, Depository and Registry.
Bulls seem to be waiting for a positive outcome from widespread pro-democracy unrest in Egypt, one of Africa’s biggest stock markets and prices have climbed for depository receipts of Egyptian companies and for an Egypt exchange-traded fund available internationally. The Egyptian Exchange has been closed for several days as unrest intensified.