Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt's stock market gained 14% or 922 points this week to close at 7,485.7 points. This is the biggest one-week rise since 27 January, 2012.
Foreign traders were net buyers by EGP 142.4 million, while national and Arab traders came in as net sellers by EGP 61.9 million and EGP 80.5 million in a row.
The Egyptian Exchange indices delivered bullish performance this week, said Ziyad Sheta, client accounts manager at Grand Holding, adding that traded value exceeded EGP 5.5 billion during the week following news about the pound devaluation.
The Central Bank of Egypt devaluated the pound by around 112 piasters against the dollar in a dollar sale auction held Monday. However, it raised the pound exchange rate in Wednesday's auction to 8.78 per dollar from 8.85 per dollar.
In a statement issued Monday, the central bank said it would adopt a more 'flexible' exchange rate regime.
According to the analyst, the market will likely rise towards the 7,540 resistance level and may see correction next week.
Sheta expected the central bank's decision to raise interest rates by 150 basis points to have a 'temporary' effect especially on small-cap investors.
Market capitalisation increased by around EGP 35.9 billion ($4.01 billion) this week to end at EGP 447.5 billion, up from EGP 402.9 billion last week.
Translated by Sayed Abdel Rahman
