Egypt’s stocks hit the highest level in sixteen months a day after an Egyptian central bank official announced the receipt of a $2 billion deposit from Saudi Arabia.
The market’s benchmark EGX30 rose 3.9 percent to register 8,505 points in a session that saw a high daily turnover for the listed securities worth some EGP 1.18 billion.
Out of the 176 stocks listed for the day, 118 went up while 30 shares declined.
The freshly-announced deposit brings Egypt closer to securing the finance needed to seal a prospective $12 billion loan.
Foreign investors, who represented around 21 percent of the market, were the only net buyers for the day to the tune of EGP 61.5.
Health and pharmaceuticals were the only sectors to decline on Thursday while the rest gained, led by real estate, banks and financial services.
Most traded during the session, Global Telecom Holding soared 10.73 percent to close at EGP 5.16 per share.
Commercial International Bank surged 3.90 percent to register EGP 53.28 per share. EFG Hermes went up 4.94 percent to EGP 14.23 per share.
The Egyptian real estate developer SODIC rose 5.15 percent to close at EGP 13.69 per share.
However, Wael Enaba, a board member of Egyptian Association for Securities, told Ahram Online that this rise “wasn’t convincing,” as it was only reflected on shares that are traded in both local and hard currencies, not on all of the shares.
