The Stock Exchange made modest gains by the end of trading on Thursday, despite poor performance indicators ahead of protests planned for Friday.
Anti-Brotherhood political movements called for massive demonstrations on Friday against the recent arrest of several opposition activists accused of attacking the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters in Moqattam.
However, the sale of the national Nationale Société Générale Bank to Qatar National Bank boosted overall trading volume up to LE17.1 billion.
The market capitalization of company shares made limited gains of LE520 million, reaching LE358.78 billion after trading.
The main stock index EGX30 made a marginal increase of 0.38 percent.
Marwa Hamed, a head executive in Wathiqa Securities Company, said that investors, especially individuals, may have concerns on the repercussions of the Friday demonstrations, which could end in violence and riots, negatively impacting the already suffering economy.
The Stock Exchange’s announcement that it would delete NSGB shares from its key indicators did not affect market movements, because the bank's shares had not been active before the deal, Hamed conjectured.
Edited translation from MENA
