The USD is getting stronger because of the Ukraine war: The USD has surged to its highest level since the pandemic-panic days of May 2020 as investors seek havens in response to the conflict in Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reports. The ICE USD index finished the week up 2.1%, one of its largest jumps in the past five years, due to Russia’s military campaign and retaliatory sanctions by western nations. When global equity markets slump, investors tend to run towards safe-haven assets such as gold or the USD — which has already been gaining strength in recent months amid expectations of higher interest rates by the Federal Reserve.

Blackrock-led group gets mandate to finance Aramco pipeline acquisition: A syndicate of 19 international banks will provide USD 13.4 bn to the investor consortium that recently acquired a stake in Saudi Aramco’s natgas pipelines subsidiary, Al Arabiya reports citing unnamed sources. HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, BNP Paribas and Standard Chartered are reportedly among the international lenders participating in the seven-year loan, alongside Gulf banks including Riyad Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, and three Chinese lenders. The Blackrock-led group last month acquired a 49% stake in the business for USD 15.5 bn.

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell 1.9% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 763 mn (19.7% below the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is down 7.2% YTD.

In the green: Ezz Steel (+4.8%), Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals (+1.7%) and Mopco (+1.2%).

In the red: Rameda (-4.4%), Telecom Egypt (-4.0%) and Ibnsina Pharma (-3.9%).