Egypt bourse to restart same-day trading: Regulator

Egypt's stock exchange will reinstate the buying and selling of single stocks in the same session from the first week of next month in an effort to boost market volumes.


The ability to buy and sell a stock in the same session was stopped in February 2011 after the popular uprising that swept autocratic President Hosni Mubarak from power.

The head of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority, Ashraf El Sharkawy, said the move would increase the number of transactions by between 30 percent and 40 percent and help to alleviate "huge liquidity problems" on the exchange.

Political instability in the two years since the revolution has led to an economic crisis in the most populous Arab country.

Foreign currency reserves have fallen to critically low levels, threatening Egypt's ability to buy in supplies of fuel as well as wheat, of which it is the world's biggest importer.

Sharkawy said the stock exchange is seeking to attract new companies to improve the investment climate.

The Cairo bourse fell to a 2013 low on Wednesday as foreign investors sold stocks on fears that the Egyptian pound, which has fallen sharply against the dollar on the black market in recent days, would be devalued further.