Cairo - Mubasher: The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) had a mixed performance in the second week of February, with growing anticipations to the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) decision regarding interest rates.
The CBE's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met on Thursday and decided to cut interest rates by 1%.
The overnight deposit and lending rates now stand at 17.75% and 18.75%, respectively, while the main open market rate will be at 18.25%.
EGX30, the benchmark index, levelled up 0.3% as it ended the week at 14,965.93 points.
The small and medium-sized enterprises index EGX70 added 0.44% and closed the week at 852.2 points, while EGX100 gained 0.33% to reach 2,032 points.
Meanwhile, the equal-weighted index EGX50 lost 0.74%, and closed at 2,628 points.
The market capital rose by EGP 11.2 billion this week, reaching a total of EGP 863.7 billion.
Analyst Saed El-Fekky said that the gains of the main index were on the back of blue chip stocks, as it continues to move horizontally between 14,700 and 15,100 points, which he believes the index will peak if the central bank decreased interest rates.
As for EGX70, the index has successfully penetrated the 850 point leve, and is now targeting 865, he added.
