FEDERATION OF EURO-ASIAN STOCK EXCHANGES
SEMI ANNUAL REPORT OCTOBER 2008
CAIRO & ALEXANDRIA STOCK EXCHANGES
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Maged Shawky Sourial
Chairman
The Egyptian market witnessed a mixed performance
during the first half of 2008, experiencing an upsurge
during the first four months of the year, with CASE 30
index recording the highest-ever since its inception,
approaching the 12000 threshold, with an increase of
11.7% over this period.
The Egyptian market, however, showed a lackluster
performance since the month of May, affected by the
sharp decline in the emerging as well as international
markets, following the dramatic increase in oil prices
as well as the global food crisis, pushing CASE30
index downward by 6.8% over the first half of 2008 to
conclude the period at 9827 points.
The Egyptian Exchange has, however, recorded
impressive trading figures, whereby the value traded
jumped to L.E. 397 billion during the first half of year
2008, surpassing the recorded value traded in year
2007, which amounted to L.E. 363 billion.
Consequently, the average daily value traded surged
to L.E. 2.5 billion (after excluding large deals) as
opposed to L.E. 1.5 billion last year. Likewise, the
average daily number of transactions soared to 66
thousand compared to 37 thousand transactions
during year 2007
In its continuous efforts to enhance the market depth
and development, the Egyptian Exchange has de-
listed the inactive companies, ending the first half of
2008 with 375 listed companies compared to 435
companies at the end of 2007. From another
FUTURE OUTLOOK
• Continuous development of the regulatory
infrastructure to increase the quality of services
and to ensure investor protection.
• Implementing, shortly, the Next Generation
Trading System.
• EGX, in collaboration with MCDR, will shortly
implement the Securities Lending and Borrowing
System.
perspective, the Exchange is continuously working on
attracting the family-owned and the closed
companies to widen their ownership structure. In that
respect, the market witnessed three offerings during
the first half of the year, with a cumulative amount of
L.E. 4.3 billion. These offerings were highly
oversubscribed, with a ratio reaching 40 times, which
revealed the rising demand to new offerings as well
as the increasing liquidity in the market. With regards to Nilex, the mid and small cap market
in the Egyptian Exchange, nine financial institutions
were granted the license to be nominated advisors
during the first half of 2008, raising the number of
nominated advisors in NILEX, to 10 financial
institutions. This reflects the interest of many financial
institutions in the small and medium enterprises. By
the end of the first half of year 2008, three companies
got listed on Nilex.
Moreover, he Egyptian Exchange continued its efforts
to increase the product mix available to investors by
listing and trading new products in the market. In that
respect, EGX took effective steps to implement the
Short Selling system and MCDR started to accept
requests from investors who wish to lend their
shares. On the International front, the Egyptian Exchange is
eager to strengthen and maintain strong relations
with the regional and international exchanges and
associations. In February 2008, the Egyptian
Exchange organized the Sixth Conference of the
Emerging Capital Markets, which is one of the most
important conferences of the World Federation of
Exchanges (WFE). Moreover, the Exchange signed a
memorandum of Understanding with Cyprus Stock
Exchange in order to consolidate the cooperation
between the two Exchanges in the areas of common
interest of the development of the two markets.
On the technological front, EGX has finalized
upgrading its trading platform to OMX high
performance “X-stream” solution. The brokers were
well trained on using the new system and simulation
sessions are currently run to make sure that all
member firms can successfully use the new system.
The system is expected to go live in the third quarter
of 2008
Additionally, EGX is about to implement the market
making system, whereby two institutions have
already got the license from the Capital Market
Authority.
With these developments in the market, I trust that
EGX is on the right path to achieve its vision of being
a World-Class Egypt-based Exchange: the Premier
Capital Market in the Middle East & North Africa
Region.
• The launch of the first ETF on CASE 30 index.
• The effective launch of new markets, such as
markets for derivatives.
• Encouraging dual listing of blue chip companies.
• Listing selected prominent and fast growing mid
and small cap companies on Nilex.
• Continuous enhancement of EGX international
relations with stock exchanges around the globe
as well as regional and international federations
and associations working in the exchange industry.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Contact Name Ms. Nevine Mansour
E-mail [email protected]
Website www.egyptse.com
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