Banque Misr now owns nearly 100% of BdC: Banque Misr has purchased 1.13 bn shares (around 42.9%) in Banque du Caire (BdC) in a EGP 6.97 bn block transaction on the Egyptian Exchange in what the bank described in a bourse filing (pdf) right before the Eid break as “internal restructuring.” The transaction, which saw Banque Misr purchase shares from its own investment arm, Misr Capital, brought its ownership stake in BdC to 99.99%.

Coinbase snaps up Goldman Sachs’ first BTC-backed loan: Crypto exchange Coinbase became the first taker of Goldman Sachs’ inaugural BTC loan product, Bloomberg reported yesterday. While loans that are backed by crypto assets are not new, these have always been the purview of crypto lenders. This is the first loan of this kind to be issued by a major Wall Street firm. Details of the terms of the loan have not been disclosed.

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 3.1% at last Thursday’s close on turnover of EGP 1.21 bn (27.4% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is down 7.5% YTD.

In the green: GB Auto (+10.1%), Heliopolis Housing (+9.3%) and Madinet Nasr Housing (+9.1%).

In the red: Eastern Company (-3.6%), Rameda (-2.2%) and Housing and Development Bank (-0.1%).

Asian markets are mixed this morning, with the Nikkei and Kospi gently in the red while Shanghai, the Hang Seng and ASX are all in the green. Futures suggest the Stoxx 50, FTSE 100 and DAX 30 will all open in positive territory later this morning, with Paris’ CAC 40 being the only major benchmark to buck the trend. Across the ocean, it looks like Wall Street will open in the red, trimming yesterday’s gains after the Fed went for a 50 bps rate hike.