Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchange
Encyclopedia
Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

's Stock Exchange, now Egyptian Exchange (EGX), comprises two exchanges, Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

 and Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

, both governed by the same board of directors and sharing the same trading, clearing and settlement systems.

History

The Egyptian Exchange was formerly known as the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange (CASE). In 2009, the CASE 30
CASE 30
The CASE 30 is an index of the Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchange in Egypt. It includes the 30 most active stocks in the Egyptian stock market, weighted to their market capitalization. The index was started with a base level of 1000 as of January 01, 1998....

 Index (made up of the 30 largest companies being traded) changed its name to the EGX 30 Index
EGX 30 Index
EGX 30 index, previously named CASE 30 Index, is a stock market index for securities in Egypt, designed and calculated by EGX. EGX started disseminating its index on 2 February 2003 via data vendors, its publications, web site, newspapers etc...

. In 2011 the EGX 20 Index, composed of the twenty most active and liquid stocks on the Egyptian Exchange, was launched.

The Alexandria Stock Exchange was officially established in 1883, with Cairo following in 1903. Both exchanges were very active in the 1940s, and the combined Egyptian Stock Exchange ranked fifth in the world. The central planning and socialist policies adopted in the mid-1950s led to the exchange becoming dormant between 1961 and 1992.

In the 1990s, the Egyptian government's restructuring and economic reform programme resulted in the revival of the Egyptian stock market, and a major change in the organisation of the Cairo and Alexandria stock exchanges took place in January 1997 with the election of a new board of directors and the establishment of a number of board committees.

Sherif Raafat, former chairman of the board of directors, sought to modernise the exchange by:
  • Creating a coherent organisation structure with a clear division of authority and responsibilities;
  • Deciding to install a new state-of-the-art trading, clearing and settling system conforming to international standards (in May 1998 a contract was signed with EFA Software Ltd., a Canadian company, to this end);
  • Developing new membership and trading rules, as well as arbitration and dispute resolution procedures;
  • Planning the improvement of the clearing, settlement and payment systems.


By the end of November 1998, there were 833 listed companies on the Egyptian Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of approximately L.E. 71.3 billion (up from 627 companies listed in 1991 with a market capitalisation of L.E. 8.8 billion).

Hours

The exchange has normal trading sessions from 10.30am to 2.30pm, local time, on all weekdays, except Fridays, Saturdays and holidays declared by the exchange in advance.

Egyptian Revolution of 2011

The Egyptian stock exchange plummeted 6.25% following the beginning of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 on 25 January.

The Egyptian Stock Exchange closed at the end of trading on the 27th January after the benchmark EGX 30 Index (EGX30) plunged 16 percent that week amid the uprising. The exchange reopened on Wednesday 23rd March after being closed for almost 8 weeks. The market fell by a further 8.9% on reopening. .

See also


External links

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