OUR ANALYST OF THE WEEK- Nour ElNayal, junior equity analyst at Pioneers Securities (Linkedin).

My name is Nour ElNayal and I didn’t have any finance experience before working at my job. I studied political science as a major and history as a minor at AUC, so I really had no background in stocks [laughs]. Nonetheless, I’m currently a stock trader at Aspire Capital’s Pioneers Securities. I got the job because of my abilities to tell a story to people. The more financial and technical aspects I learned on the job through training and through help from the team. We don’t divide industries between us at Pioneers — instead, we all work on everything and get that breadth of exposure.

The best part of my job is that you’re always on your toes. The stock market always has something new every day and you need to be alert and think and move fast. In my case, I tend to get more creative in times of crisis. People think that market crashes are a bad thing, but it's a great time to enter the market and wait for the next upcycle.

The worst part of my job is that it’s very stressful. Sometimes you need to catch a breather, but it’s hard to do that. If you disconnect for even a few days, you miss out on so much and you’ll need to catch up. It’s also a job that is better done on the ground. Because we work in teams, we work better when we’re in the office and can collaborate face-to-face.

I feel the energy and petrochem sectors are a hidden gem in the market. They have a lot of potential and this showed especially when they proved to be resilient in the face of market dips. They produce needs rather than wants and there’s a lot of liquidity in the sector.

My theory of investment is to be a chameleon, changing colors based on the client. There isn’t a cookie cutter outline for investing and it all depends on the client’s psychology. You have to understand their risk appetite and their interest and it’s important that you have the ability to do that in a brief window. This will affect everything from the tone you speak with and how you deliver news.

The most important factor I look at before recommending an investment is how lucrative it is and volumes. They have to go hand in hand or else it’s a risky investment that you might not be able to get out of easily. After that, you combine these two factors with the fundamentals and the news around the company at the moment to have a 360° view of the potential of the company. The timing is also very important and you should aim to see this potential before the rest of the market.

I’m very optimistic about the EGX30’s performance in 2022. The stock market needs a strong push through fresh paper and the return of foreign investors. A lot of foreign institutions exited the market in the past few years due to uncertainty and changing regulations. However, I think that the year ahead will be positive as these changes in regulation are actually quite beneficial to the market and that will begin to play out. It’s a great time to enter the market, especially in sectors such as banking and non-banking financial services.

The high interest rate environment is not necessarily worrying. It’s always competition to an extent, but people who have tried their hand at the stock market know that it's much more lucrative. So I think a high interest rate environment would impact the amount of new clients that decide to invest in the stock market, but existing clients will remain.

The last great thing I watched is Queer Eye. The last season featured a new approach where they brought on a lot of people that make a difference in a community.

I’m currently reading 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don't Do. I like it so far.

In my freetime, I like to work out and do things that relieve stress such as spinning classes and yoga. I’m also a very social person and I like to constantly meet new people as I feel it helps expand my network. I’m the kind of person that will speak to strangers while at the sports club [laughs]. I also have a blog on Instagram where I like to write about my personal experiences on everything from mental health to dating. My approach to it is that it's 100% raw and real.

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MARKET ROUNDUP-

The EGX30 rose 0.2% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 633 mn (45.9% below the 90-day average). Local investors were net buyers. The index is down 0.6% YTD.

In the green: Egyptian Resorts Company (+6.1%), CIRA (+5.3%) and GB Auto (+5.0%).

In the red: Fawry (-1.8%), Rameda (-1.2%) and Palm Hills Development (-1.1%).