Egyptian bourse loses 4.7bn pounds

The Egyptian bourse lost during Wednesday trading around 4.7 billion pounds for the fifth session running on the backdrop of reports about imposing taxes on profit revenues of shares. Anxiety on part of foreign investors was added by a record high exchange rate of the Egyptian pound against the dollar, a state of affairs that prompted them to intensively sell their shares. The EGX 30 benchmark index declined by 2.2 percent reaching 4,926.22 points; the lowest level in four months. The broader EGX 70 index of the leading smaller and mid cap enterprises (SME) went down by 1.3 percent to 431.67 points. The all-embracing EGX 100 index also dropped by 1.58 percent to close at 719.07 points.