Total number of listed companies on CASE in March 2006 decreased to 700 companies as opposed to 708 in the previous month.
There were no new listed companies this month.
Turnover
Total number of trading days in March 2006 amounted to 22 days with total value traded of LE 24,161.14 million. Value traded of listed securities amounted to LE 21,925.47 million, of which shares, bonds and funds represented 91.96%, 8.04% and 0.00% respectively. On the other hand, OTC trading reached LE 2,235.67 million, which represents 9% of total value traded for the month.
This is in comparison to February 2006, when value traded of listed securities amounted to LE 34,808.46 million, of which shares represented 93.18%, bonds 6.82% and funds 0.00%. In addition, the OTC trading amounted to LE 2,092.15 million i.e. 6% of total trading (on- and off-exchange trading) which reached LE 36,900.61 million.
Total volume traded of listed securities market for this month reached 481.07 million securities.
During March 2006, 566,277 transactions were concluded with an average of 25,740 trades per day, as opposed to 623,350 transactions and an average of 31,168 trades per day in February 2006.
Indices
CASE 30 Price, the official market index, witnessed a 4.57% decrease in March 2006 to reach 6767.61 points and witnessed a 72.74% increase on YoY.
However, the MSCI Egypt index witnessed a 4.99% decrease in March, to close at 782.9 points on 31/03/2006, and a 77.46% increase on a YoY basis.
Price Movements of Selected Shares
The ten most active stocks represented 74.28% of the total volume of shares traded and 73.11% of total value of shares traded for the month.
During the month of March, the top ten gainers, on the official CASE market, were (in descending order of price change) Arab Gulf Investment (+103%), Gulf Canadian Real Estate Investment Co. (+87%), PIRAEUS Bank Egypt (+83%), Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt (+56%), Housing & Development Bank (+50%), Acrow Misr (+25%), Alexandria Spinning & Weaving (SPINALEX) (+23%), Egyptian American Bank (EAB) (+19%), Cairo Poultry (+16%) and International Agricultural Products (+16%).
The top ten losers were (in ascending order of price change) Regina Food Industries (R.F.I.) (-59%), Six of October Development & Investment (SODIC) (-54%), Egyptian Electrical Cables (-36%), Industrial & Engineering Projects (-30%), Egyptians Abroad for Investment & Development (-30%), Medinet Nasr Housing (-28%), Canal Shipping Agencies (-27%), El Ahli Investment and Development (-27%), Alexandria Flour Mills (-26%) and Egyptian Iron & Steel (-26%).
Market Capitalization
Total market capitalization of shares amounted to LE 449.48 billion as of end of March 2006 compared to LE 495.07 billion in February 2006, representing a 9.2% decrease.
The bond capitalization recorded LE 6.32 billion for corporate bonds and LE 55.98 billion for government bonds at the end of March 2006 (Including Treasury Bonds according to Primary Dealers System).
Foreign Participation
In March 2006, foreign investors participated with 31.87% of the total market value traded with net outflows of portfolio foreign investment totaling LE 79 million.
