Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt’s stock market indices rose on Monday, while market capitalisation added around EGP 20.3 billion ($2.7 billion) amid a buying spree among local and Arab institutions.

The benchmark index EGX30 saw its biggest gains in 22 months, jumping 6.5% to close at 8,798.17 points.

The market rally was fuelled by the announcement that the government decided to delay implementation of a much debated capital gains tax, which traders have criticised on the grounds that it is keeping away potential investment.

Early on Monday, investment minister Ashraf Salman told Mubasher that the tax had been put “on hold.”

The stock market responded positively to the decision, as shown in the remarkable rise in all sectors, said Ahmed Ayyad, chief technical analyst, MubasherTrade. He added that the capital gains tax triggered broad sell-offs in previous sessions.

The benchmark index is likely to resume its rise in coming sessions to shoot above the resistance area of 8,830 to 9,000 points, said the analyst. A break above such an area will signal an end to the downward trend and push the index higher towards 9,150 to 9,300 points, while current support stands at 8,260 points, he said.

Monday’s turnover amounted to EGP 785.4 million, while traded volume reached 222.3 million shares.

National and Arab traders ended as net buyers by EGP 26.9 million and EGP 49.9 million respectively, while foreign traders were net sellers by EGP 76.8 million. Institutions, especially nationals and foreigners, were net buyers, while retail traders were net sellers.

Out of the 186 securities traded today, 167 moved up, four moved down and 15 remained flat.

Translated by Sayed Abdel Rahman