What the markets are doing on 16 March 2021
GLOBAL IPO WATCH- Food delivery player Deliveroo hopes to raise around GBP 1 bn when it debuts on the London Stock Exchange, the company said in a statement (pdf) yesterday. Existing shareholders will sell their holdings, in addition to the GBP 1 bn in new shares, it said without elaborating.
The UK is chasing tech IPOs: The news comes a few weeks after the British government announced plans to relax listing rules in a bid to entice more tech companies and SPACs to go public on the out-of-favor LSE. A review of listing regulations has recommended the government lower the freefloat threshold and hand founders more voting rights by allowing dual-class shares.
Beijing is taking a rather different approach towards its tech companies: Chinese tech giant Tencent has lost USD 62 bn in market value during a share sell-off sparked by fears that the government will try to curb its market power, Bloomberg says. The company’s share price fell more than 4% in trading yesterday and lost 4.4% on Friday, a slump that one brokerage said had erased the value of its fintech business.
Antitrust crackdown: The sell-off was sparked after the country’s antitrust regulator handed out fines to 12 companies, including Tencent, for allegedly making illegal acquisitions. The government in recent months has taken an increasingly hardline stance towards the country’s most powerful tech firms. Premier Li Keqiang said earlier this month that regulators would work to curb their monopoly power and tighten fintech rules.
Speaking of high-value tech: E-payments provider Stripe just became the most valuable startup in the history of Silicon Valley. It reached a record USD 95 bn valuation after a USD 600 mn investment round, overtaking SpaceX, Instacart, Facebook and Uber before they went public, according to Bloomberg and the FT.
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EGX30 |
11,222 |
-0.6% (YTD: +3.5%) |
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USD (CBE) |
Buy 15.66 |
Sell 15.76 |
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USD at CIB |
Buy 15.66 |
Sell 15.76 |
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Interest rates CBE |
8.25% deposit |
9.25% lending |
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Tadawul |
9,646 |
-0.2% (YTD: +11.0%) |
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ADX |
5,708 |
+0.4% (YTD: +13.1%) |
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DFM |
2,619 |
+0.7% (YTD: +5.1%) |
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S&P 500 |
3,969 |
+0.7% (YTD: +5.7%) |
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FTSE 100 |
6,750 |
-0.2% (YTD: +4.5%) |
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Brent crude |
USD 68.16 |
-1.1% |
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Natural gas (Nymex) |
USD 2.49 |
+0.1% |
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Gold |
USD 1,729.20 |
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BTC |
USD 54,217.32 |
-9.7% |
The EGX30 fell 0.6% yesterday on turnover of EGP 1.1 bn (25.6% below the 90-day average). Regional investors were net buyers. The index is up 3.5% YTD.
In the green: GB Auto (+3.0%), Eastern Co. (+1.2%) and EKH (+1.0%).
In the red: Orascom Financial (-4.2%), Credit Agricole (-3.7%) and Heliopolis Housing (-3.3%).