Thursday, 8 January 2015

GB Auto to invest up to USD 1.5 bn in growth • PHD eyes EGP 1.6 bn capital hike • Cabinet greenlights USD 1.5 bn bond • PMI hits three-month high • UK trade delegation in town next week • CBE reserves at 17-month low • El-Sisi speaks at Cathedral

** JE SUIS CHARLIE **

Eight journalists at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, two police officers and two bystanders were massacred yesterday in Paris by filth who don’t want you to see cartons such as these reprinted by the Daily Beast alongside other sets (with some overlap) at Buzzfeed and Vox. None of those three outlets followed the craven example of the UK’s Telegraph, which blurred-out the offending bits of the covers.

Vox has one of the more complete English-language roundups on who the victims of the attacks were, and the Washington Post carries cartoons from around the world remembering the dead at Charlie and skewering Islamist extremists.

Read how the magazine dug-in its heels back in 2011, the last time the fundies went after them, in the New Yorker, Le monde (in French) or the New York Times.

Le monde, Radio France and France Télévisions have issued a joint statement putting their staff and resources at the disposal of Charlie’s team to ensure it continues to publish, Le figaro reports.

The Wall Street Journal asks why it is that blasphemy laws are on the books in the Arab world, even in “relatively secular” Egypt.

Charlie Hebdo’s website was, at time of dispatch this morning, merely a representation of the increasingly ubiquitous online black-and-white emblem “Je suis Charlie” and a link to a pdf download of the statement in multiple languages.

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

The Higher Elections Commission will hold a press conference tomorrow at 6:30pm to announce the timeline for the three-stage parliamentary elections expected in March.

Meanwhile: Egypt continues to experience what is known elsewhere on the globe as “weather,” prompting some to conclude that the apocalypse may be upon us. The cold snap should continue through Sunday, according to the National Meteorological Service, though the high winds prevailing yesterday should continue to ease through the weekend. With potential for intermittent rain in the capital city and heavy precipitation in coastal areas, the Ministry of Irrigation has canceled leave for all of its engineers, Al-Borsa reports.

LAST NIGHT’S TALK SHOWS

Hadia and Karim are off, and Patrick is the last person you want summarizing the talk shows given he traditionally likens Lamees’ dulcet voice to the sound of “nails on a chalkboard when you have a three-day migraine.” Our talk show roundup will be back on Sunday morning.

SPEED ROUND

President Abdelfattah El-Sisi sent his second message on religious tolerance in less than a week on Tuesday evening when he became the first Egyptian president to attend Christmas Eve mass at the Coptic cathedral. Thousands of worshippers burst into applause when El-Sisi declared prior to the start of mass, “Let no one say, ‘What kind of Egyptian are you? … It is wrong to call each other anything but ‘Egyptian.’ We must only be Egyptians.” Journalists speculated the visit was unplanned; El-Sisi departed prior to the start of the service.

The move came just days after El-Sisi marked the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday last weekend with a landmark speech in which he called on Muslim religious leaders to help lead “a religious revolution … a revolution of the self, a revolution of consciousness and ethics.” CNN has good coverage of the “religious revolution” speech. The New York Times gave the Christmas mass story significant play with a piece by David Kirkpatrick and Merna Thomas.

GB Auto is prepared to invest up to USD 1.5 bn in growth opportunities, including a new plant to assemble two- and three-wheelers (motorcycles and tuk-tuks) in Suez and possible expansion into new markets in East Africa, Chairman and CEO Raouf Ghabbour told Reuters. “The volumes are growing so we are planning to establish a far bigger capacity near Suez. It’s a capacity of 100,000 three-wheelers and 100,000 two-wheelers, partially for exports to east African markets and partially to cover the demand in the domestic market,” Ghabbour told the newswire.

Palm Hills Developments will discuss an EGP 1.648 bn rights issue to existing shareholders at par (EGP 2.00 per share) when the company’s board of directors meets next Monday (12 January). The share issuance would see the company’s paid-in capital rise to EGP 4.345 bn, Al-Mal reports. PHD is also reportedly looking to raise its authorized capital to EGP 6 bn from EGP 3.5 bn. Reuters notes that “Palm Hills co-chief executive told Reuters in December, the company would begin investing in commercial properties in 2015 and expand its residential operations to meet higher demand as the economy begins to recover from four years of turmoil.”

The Central Bank of Egypt’s net international reserves fell to USD 15.33 bn in December, a USD 549 mn drop from the previous month and its lowest level in 17 months. With a further USD 700 mn debt payment to the Paris Club due later this month and market demand for hard currency growing on the back of a durable economic pickup, we’re betting the EGP will remain under pressure on the black market. Al-Borsa cites a unit of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank as speculating that the drop owes primarily to USD 550 mn in debt payments made by EGPC to international oil companies last month. Egypt’s net international reserves stood at c. USD 36 bn before 25 January 2011. (Very brief Reuters report here, CBE news flash on its homepage herewith no onward link or elaboration, it’s just a one-sentence note. Al-Borsa’s take here.)

The cabinet of ministers met on Tuesday instead of its customary Wednesday session, with the following issues having dominated the agenda:

Telecom Egypt again delayed the announcement of its pick of investment advisors who will evaluate its subsidiaries and assess divestment options for its stake in Vodafone Egypt, according to Al Mal. TE must sell its stake in Vodafone’s local unit now that the fixed-line monopoly has bitten the bullet and signaled it will pay to acquire a license that will allow it to become the nation’s fourth mobile operator.

Bisco Misr’s shareholders have so far agreed to sell a combined 59.91% to Kellogg, the world’s largest cereal maker, as the epic USD 87 mn takeover battle draws to a close after private equity house Abraaj bowed out, Reuters reports.

Meanwhile, the bidding war for Arab Dairy isn’t over, Pioneers Holdings increased its bid to EGP 59.20 per share, 2% more than a rival offer from France’s Lactalis. According to Al Mal, Lactalis is expected to hikeits bid in turn, with EFSA agreeing to extend the offer validity period to 22 January.

The Social Fund for Development plans to inject EGP 2.7 bn into financing for SMEs in 2015,  Al-Malreports.

A delegation from the World Bank will visit Egypt on 18 January for negotiations on a USD 1 bn facility to finance the construction of sewage systems for villages in the Nile Delta. The infrastructure megaproject is expected to be completed in three years and will provide a new sewage network to 763 villages. (Read in Arabic)

As many as 10 more Egyptians may be missing in Libya, according to an unconfirmed report in theDaily News Egypt. The group, several members of which have Muslim names, hails from Sahel Selim in Assiyut and went missing on 25 December.

Ahmed Ezz and former Industrial Development Authority chief Amr Assal will in New Cairo Criminal Court this morning in the so-called “steel license case.” The court will restart proceedings from the beginning due to a change in the panel judges. (Read in Arabic)

Ganzouri to Al Ahram: “I am not running for parliament.” (You may now breathe a sigh of relief.) (Read in Arabic)

Oil gained back a few inches of ground yesterday, up from a five-and-a-half year low, with Brent above USD 50 per barrel this morning. See more from Reuters and Bloomberg.

The World Bank thinks Egypt and other emerging market countries with substantial energy subsidy billsshould take advantage of currently low oil prices to accelerate reforms, the FT suggests, riffing on the bank’s semi-annual World Economic Prospects report. Catch the FT story here, skip to the full report here or to the chapter on the policy implication of low oil prices here in pdf.

The FT has a nice look at whether divestment or shareholder activism (or anything else, for that matter)is more likely to force fossil fuel companies to mend their ways on climate change. (Read)

Finally, it’s total clickbait, but Business Insider’s “Best Illustration Of History’s Bull And Bear Markets We’ve Seen Yet“ is pretty remarkable, even if it does track only US markets and, well, sees stock market “history” as beginning in c. 1930.

DIPLOMACY

In a further sign of thawing relations with Doha, Ittihadiya announced yesterday that Qatar was among the 18 Arab nations invited to a round table of Arab ministers of education expected to take place in Sharm El-Sheikh on 27-29 January, Al-Borsa reports.

Morocco’s ambassador to Egypt was not recalled for consultations, but rather requested leave to return home for a vacation coinciding with the Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday, Al Masry Al Youm quotes the embassy’s deputy chief of mission as saying. The recall of ambassadors is a standard diplomatic tactic to express significant displeasure with one’s country of accreditation. For those of you late to the party: Relations between Egypt and Morocco continue to be strained after Moroccan state television unexpectedly attacked the Sisi administration as being a “coup regime.” The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has largely brushed off the controversy.

EGYPT IN THE NEWS

Stories covering President Abdelfattah El-Sisi’s call on the weekend for a “religious revolution,” his visit toChristmas Eve Mass on Tuesday and condemnation of yesterday’s attack on Charlie Hebdo dominate international coverage of Egypt this morning.

A brief mention in an Associated Press story appears to confirm that the president will attend the World Economic Forum in Davos later this month. (Read)

Imprisoned Al-Jazeera English bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy has an op-ed in the New York Times, in which avowed secularist reminds the Sisi administration that a free press is its greatest ally in its fight against Islamist extremism. Fahmy’s family, along with that of his colleague Peter Greste, has officially lodged a request he be deported.

The remarkably productive Patrick Kingsley turns his sights from Amal Clooney and Mortada Mansour to people smuggling with a tour de force for the Guardian titled “Trading in souls: inside the world of the people smugglers” which notes that “Abu Hamada, the kingpin of the Syrian smuggling network in Egypt, earns about £30,000 a week but sees nothing wrong in profiting from desperate migrants.” The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog covers the same topic in a more policy-focused manner. If we had to read one of the two, it would be Kingsley’s emotionally charged piece.

A horrifying series of stills taken from what appears to be a high-definition video shows the death of an Interior Minister explosives ordinance disposal technician on Tuesday as a device the young captain was defusing outside a Haram Street petrol station went off. The stills have made headlines around the world, including in Canada’s National Post.

The same Canadian newspaper carries a lengthy piece on Khaled El-Qazzaz, identified as a former aide to Mohamed Morsi arrested at Ittihadiya at the same time as the Islamist president was taken into custody. The paper claims El-Qazzaz has yet to be released from detention despite what his wife claims is an order from what she identifies as the “Attorney General” for the man’s release. (Read)

A former Kuwaiti member of parliament was ordered detained for 10 days for further questioningafter lashing out on Twitter at the emirate’s support of Egypt. “Your highness, we won’t accept billions more handed out to other countries. We have donated enough. This is the money of the people of Kuwait,” Al-Mullah wrote in one Arabic tweet. “The price of oil is USD 50 a barrel … Shame on you,” he wrote in another tweet, the AP reported. Al-Mullah wrote the tweets during a state visit by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Monday. (Read)

Foreign Policy carries a piece under the headline “The Optimist’s Year: Five reasons why 2015 is going to bring positive changes to the Middle East.” Among its unfortunate conclusions: “That Egypt isn’t being run by the Muslim Brotherhood or hasn’t descended into some anarchic state is good news for 2015. But the military’s inability to resolve Egypt’s political and economic problems will almost guarantee a highly problematic future.”

ENERGY, RENEWABLE ENERGY & SUBSIDY REFORM

USD 2.6 bn in electricity projects to be implemented in 2015
Al Borsa | 06 Jan 2015
Projects worth a combined USD 2.6 bn have been approved by the Ministry of Electricity to increase Egypt’s power generation capacity by 3.63 GW in preparation for increased demand next summer. The power stations are expected to begin generating electricity in the May-August window. The Ministry of Electricity is also coordinating currently consistent supplies of fuel with the Ministry of Petroleum to ensure that power stations always have sufficient inputs. (Read in Arabic)

Coal-fuelled power generation will only be allowed in remote areas
Al Mal | 06 Jan 2015
Coal-fired power stations will only be allowed in remote coastal areas, according to the Minister of Environmental Affairs, which also notes that moving power stations operating in or near urban population centers is “impossible” at the moment. The ministry has also set usage guidelines for coal in power stations and cement factories and to ensure transportation of the fuel will not increase pollution rates. (Read in Arabic)

OIL & GAS

Kuwaiti-Egyptian E&P company proposed
Al Mal | 06 Jan 2015
The establishment of a joint E&P company between the two countries was proposed during President Abdelfattah El-Sisi’s visit to Kuwait earlier this week, a source told Al Mal. This comes as part of a proposed increased cooperation between Kuwait and Egypt in oil and gas as well as more economic integration. Kuwait will also continue to export crude to Egypt to be refined at the MIDOR refinery. (Read in Arabic)

SacOil to begin field development in Sinai
CNBC Africa | 06 Jan 2015
South Africa’s SacOil announced the beginning of field development at its onshore site Lagia in Sinai. SacOil’s local subsidiary, Mena International Petroleum Company, has contracted Schlumberger to perform an initial phase of development including the hydraulic simulation of five wells. Onsite operations began on 4 January and results are expected by the end of the month. If all of the operations on each of the wells progresses successfully, the site is expected to produce 350 barrels per day. By June 2015, drilling five additional wells at the same field will begin as part of the second phase of development operations. (Read)

GANOPE tenders 10 sites for exploration
Al Shorouk | 06 Jan 2015
Ganoub El-Wadi Petroleum Holding Company (GANOPE) issued a tender to explore 10 sites aiming to attract more IOCs and increase E&P activities. The sites include six offshore sites in the Gulf of Suez and four in the Nile valley and Kom Ombo. (Read in Arabic)

BASIC MATERIALS & COMMODITIES

Investors eyeing Abou Tartour phosphate mining project
Ahram | 08 Jan 2015
Foreign investors are looking into the Abou Tartour phosphate mining project, revealed Dr. Khaled El Ghazali Harb, CEO of Phosphate Misr (a subsidiary of the Ministry of Petroleum). Investors are looking into establishing a USD 1.2 bn state-of-the-art facility, which would have a production capacity of 600,000 tons of phosphate and compound fertilizers. Harb says the project should generate turnover of between EGP 1.2 bn and EGP 1.5 bn annually. The project, he says, will be on the investment menu at the March Sharm El-Sheikh investment conference. (Read in Arabic)

Cutting subsidies to cotton growers could shift crop selection to rice
Al Mal | 05 Jan 2015
Rice growing will become an attractive alternative as the government cuts subsidies to cotton growers in Egypt, said a member of the Agricultural Exports Council. Cash crops are expected to replace cotton in many with fields with 80% of the resulting excess capacity likely to be used to grow rice and the rest corn and other vegetables. [Enterprise notes: The already-precarious water situation domestically makes this a potentially dangerous development given the amount of water required in rice fields.] (Read in Arabic)

CONSTRUCTION & BUILDING MATERIALS

Arab Contractors hikes capital, outlines project pipeline
Al-Borsa | 07 Jan 2015
The general assembly of state-owned giant Arab Contractors approved an EGP 300 mn capital increase to EGP 5.3 bn, financed through retained earnings. The GA also approved raising the company’s authorized capital to EGP 7.5 bn. The story includes a brief outline of the company’s project pipeline and more than you ever wanted to know about the various and sundry attendees at the assembly. (Read)

MANUFACTURING

Factories will only be charged for natural gas consumed regardless of amounts contracted
Al Shorouk | 07 Jan 2015
The cabinet agreed to a legal amendment that will have factories charged only for natural gas they consume rather than the predefined contracted amounts with EGAS. This came as a response to a series of complaints from smaller producers who had reduced their output as demand waned, but were still required to pay a higher price for their energy consumption. Along with an import tariff imposed for 200 days, the new pricing scheme attempts to support domestic heavy industry and counterbalance the effect of raising the natural gas price to USD 7 per Mbtu. (Read in Arabic)

REAL ESTATE

Real Estate Tax Authority dispatches notice of assessments to tax-exempt homeowners
Ministry News Release, Daily News Egypt | 06 Jan 2015
The Real Estate Tax Authority has dispatched notices of assessment to the owners of some 1.2 mn units valued at less than the EGP 2 mn threshold above which the new real estate tax is payable. A further 3 mn homeowners have received notifications that it’s time to pay taxes. Owners of the 1.2 mn tax-exempt units will need to send the authority copies of their national ID (with the tax-exempt residence as the address of record) and a utility bill. (Read in Daily News Egypt or check out the Tax Authority news release)

Housing Ministry to double units available in first phase of Dar Misr affordable housing project
Al Mal | 07 Jan 2015
The number of first phase units of the Ministry of Housing’s Dar Misr’s project will be doubled to 30,202. The increased number of units will mainly be in New Cairo, New Damietta and Obour City and comes after higher than anticipated demand rates for the units. The ministry is now reassessing its designs for the project to ensure they meet the demand in terms of unit sizes and numbers. (Read in Arabic)

EGOTH and Wadi Degla to develop USD 210 mn tourism project in Ain Sokhna
Zawya | 06 Jan 2015
The Egyptian General Company for Tourism and Hotels (EGOTH) and Wadi Degla Real Estate Development are developing a USD 210 mn international tourism project at Ain Sokhna. The project entails the construction of a 120-room hotel, a commercial and entertainment district, and a residential area. Wadi Degla will construct the entire project and sell the units as freehold with construction expected to begin in 1Q15. (Read)

BANKING & FINANCE

Seven-bank consortium to provide short-term funding to El-Sewedy Electric
Al Mal | 06 Jan 2015
Seven banks will provide El-Sewedy Electric with a total of USD 650 mn in short-term credit facilities. The money will go towards financing El-Sewedy’s role in participating in the government’s third emergency electricity plan, which involves building two power stations. 40% of the funds will be provided by Banque du Caire with the rest syndicated amongst NBE, Banque Misr, CIB, and others. (Read in Arabic)

Banque Misr and CIB in negotiations to finance solar energy project
Al Borsa | 06 Jan 2015
Banque Misr and CIB are currently in negotiations to finance part of the cost of a 5 MW solar energy power plant by KC Consortium. The total investment cost is estimated at USD 8 mn with the consortium seeking loans for 70% the total project’s cost. (Read in Arabic)

TOURISM

Air Cairo to launch scheduled direct service from Poland to Red Sea resort cities
Al Mal | 06 Jan 2015
Air Cairo announced it will begin direct service from Poland to Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada starting mid-January. The carrier will operate four scheduled weekly flights from Warsaw and Katowice as well as charters. The Ministry of Civil Aviation gave the project the green light as part of its plan to help boost tourist arrivals to Egypt. (Read in Arabic)

OTHER BUSINESS NEWS OF NOTE

Egypt PMI hits three-month high, KSA and UAE remain in healthy territory
Markit Press Release | 06 Jan 2015
The Markit / HSBC Egypt PMI results were out on Tuesday and they signaled a continuation of the economic upturn as the headline PMI increased to 51.4 in December from 50.7 the previous month, a three-month high. A largely positive reading, Simon Williams, Chief Economist for the Middle East at HSBC, noted: “Egypt is yet to regain momentum but a fifth consecutive score above 50.0 reinforces our view that the economy continues to stabilize.” The single-page release (in PDF) is a fast read, but main takeaways are:

  • Output and orders accelerating
  • Purchasing activity increased
  • Ongoing spare capacities
  • Accelerated rate of expansion
  • Weak input cost inflation
  • Reduced selling prices (possibly to attract new clients)
  • Reduced employment levels (possibly frictionally)

The PMI for Saudi Arabia improved to 57.9 (from 57.6 the previous month), while the UAE index remained essentially flat at 58.4. We suspect Williams’ comment on the UAE could equally hold for KSA: “We expect lower oil prices to weigh on the economy into 2015, but for now demand is holding up well. That now orders as well as output have remained strong is particularly encouraging.”

Administrative Judiciary seeks State Commissioners’ views on public-sector maximum wage law; defections to private sector continue
Al Borsa | 07 Jan 2015
The State Council’s Administrative Court has asked the State Commissioners agency for an opinion regarding a challenge by officers of the Export Development Bank of Egypt (EDBE) against the cap on public-sector wages, Al Borsa reports. Meanwhile, a separate story in the same paper carries news of yet another senior National Bank of Egypt official resigning to head to the private sector. (Read in Arabic here and here)

EGYPT POLITICS + ECONOMICS

USD 1.5 bn in foreign currency denominated debt to be issued soon
Al Shorouk | 06 Jan 2015
An unnamed source at the Ministry of Finance to Al Shorouk the Ministry has agreed to issue USD 1.5 bn of foreign currency denominated debt within the next two months, a decision approved during the weekly cabinet meeting. This aims to attract foreign liquidity to Egypt and help the treasury benefit from the most recent credit rating upgrade as well as the recent surge in liquidity. The Ministry of Finance will most likely issue bonds with 10 to 30 years’ maturity and will soon begin to gauge the interest of international banks for Egyptian government debt. (Read in Arabic)

[Enterprise notes: This is an important step given the most recent drop in CBE’s net international reserves, which came despite the absence of any major debt payments, as Egypt prepares to pay USD 700mn in January to Paris club debtors — an amount which would push NIR below the critical (yet arbitrary) three-month import cover if not offset by any new inflows]

50 British companies on trade mission to Egypt next week — BEBA
Al Borsa | 07 Jan 2015
A delegation of 50 British companies will visit Egypt next week to explore investment opportunities, according to the Chairman of the British-Egyptian Business Association (BEBA), Sameh Seif El Yazal. He also said that the delegation will be introduced to the new initiatives the government has taken to improve the business environment and simplifying the investment regulations all as part of the preparations for the March investment summit. The delegation will include companies operating in the fields of renewable energy, manufacturing, and electricity generation. While not specified in the story, we expect the delegation to arrive on Tuesday. (Read in Arabic)

Gubernatorial shuffle is almost complete
Al Masry Al Youm | 08 Jan 2015
Minister of Local Development Adel Labib signaled yesterday that negotiations regarding an upcoming shuffle of key governors will draw to a close. A committee is putting in its final touches on the suggested personnel shifts and will shortly be handing their recommendations to Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb and, subsequently, President Abdelfattah El-Sisi for implementation. Sources confirmed the government has struggled with how to mix managerial expertise with youth in the proposed shuffle. The paper claims that up to nine governors will remain in office, but could be moved to new governorates. (Read in Arabic)

Investors’ union objects to split of GAFI, state domination of National Investment Authority board under proposed unified investment law
Al Masry Al Youm | 07 Jan 2015
The Egyptian Union of Investors’ Associations says it has two significant reservations about the proposed unified investment law, a copy of which we noted on 4 January after it was disclosed by Al Ahram. First, it’s not at all in favor of the split of GAFI into two entities, one of which would be an investment promotion authority, while the other would serve as the one-stop shop responsible for business licenses, incorporations, regulatory permits and the like. More significantly, union vice-president Moharram Helal also says his members object to government ministers taking five seats on the board of the proposed National Investment Authority, which would give the government a blocking majority. Helal says only the Minister of Investment should have a seat, with the balance going to private-sector representatives. The union appears to have no issue with other provisions, including a package of tax breaks and special incentives for labor-intensive businesses, investments in remote areas, export-oriented ventures, and companies utilizing inputs sourced domestically. Significantly, profit repatriation will be legally protected under the new law. (Read in Arabic)

125 public companies to be restructured – Minister of Investment
Daily News Egypt | 05 Jan 2015
The Minister of Investment asked financial companies to begin preliminary evaluations of 125 public holding companies as part of the government’s drive to restructure the public sector. The evaluation mechanism will be conducted in a unified manner by EFSA registered consultancies and will be done in cooperation with the Leadership and Management Development Centre. The development plan for the public sector, according to the Minister, is part of a comprehensive reform strategy the government is undertaking currently to improve the business environment. (Read)

ON YOUR WAY OUT

Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, FIFA’s vice president, said he’ll run against Sepp Blatter for the FIFA Presidency in the next elections, according to Bloomberg.
Mobinil will repay EGP 1.5 bn in bonds on 20 January without having to resort to any form of external financing, Amwal Al Ghad reports. (Read in Arabic)

Bank of Alexandria formed a strategic partnership with Metlife Alico to launch a bancassurance service in Egypt. (Read in Arabic)

Khaled Meshal may have been booted from Qatar and could now be on his way to Turkey, if Israeli media reports are to be believed, but at least three Hamas sources have denied to the Washington Post that the Hamas leader has been tossed out of Doha. If he is, indeed, being exiled, it would mark Hamas’ almost-complete shunning by Arab countries.

The idiots at Daesh have reportedly decided to open a three-year school of medicine in Raqqa. Applicants need to be between the ages of 18 and 30 and have completed high school. Those not holding a high school diploma because of “circumstances” that prevented their sitting for exams (such as, perhaps, a gang of murderous social misfits closing schools?) can sit an equivalency examination. (Read in Arabic)

BY THE NUMBERS

USD (CBE auction): 7.1401 (unchanged)
USD (parallel market): 7.80 (up 1 pt)

EGX30 (Tuesday): 8,798.94 (-2.35%)
Turnover: EGP 512.5 mn, 25% below 90-day average
(EGX was closed Wednesday in observance of Orthodox Christmas)

WTI: USD 49.29 (+1.32%)
Brent: USD 51.72 (+1.11%)

TASI: 8,133.4 (+0.9%)
ADX: 4,424.6 (+2.6%)
DFM: 3,600.3 (+4.4%)
KSE: 431.1 (-)
QE: 11,898.2 (+0.7%)
MSM: 6,204.1 (-0.%)

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