Market Report: Mubarak's TV trial slashes stock trades

The trial of Egypt's ousted president cast a shadow on the country's stock market on Wednesday with volume falling to a 10-year low as traders joined millions of rapt viewers in following the television coverage.

The EGX30 benchmark closed 0.88 per cent down at 4,923.29 points, partly recovering from a sharper fall in the opening 90 minutes of trade.
Total market turnover was a limp LE239 million ($40m).

"Volumes were negatively affected by the trial, which was televised live. It distracted investors during the trading session," Marwa Hamed, a trader at Wathika Brokerage told MENA news agency.

"Volumes were very light in early trading but there was a pick-up by the end of the day," she added.

The broader indexes EGX70 and EGX100 slipped by 0.33 and 0.44 per cent respectively.

Arabs and non-Arab investors made net sell-offs worth LE10.5m and LE17.1m respectively. Locals were net-buyers of LE27.6m.

Despite the collapse in volume, several high-cap firms managed to reverse recent losses to finish slightly in the green. Leading the pack was Egypt's Commercial International Bank (CIB), up 0.2 per cent, but EFG Hermes followed suit, gaining 0.6 per cent. Many housing stocks also saw modest gains.

From the day's 173 traded stocks, 85 gained and 73 declined.