KEY THEMES
Eight months of the eventful 2020 have passed so far, during which the EGX 30 shed 2,595.57 points or 18.6% ytd. This period is characterized by strong fluctuations; despite bottoming out in March, the market behavior wasn’t short of jittery afterwards. The below chart depicts the 36 stocks that were needle-movers for the EGX 30 in 2020 ytd (including stocks added/removed in the index rebalancing). Measured in terms of points, each name’s contribution is shown. Of those 36 stocks, only eight had a partial positive influence on the index’s movement. It was not surprising to see telecom or consumers topping the board. Interestingly, the heaviest laggards were stocks in Egypt’s standard MSCI index (shown in a descending order).
On a related note, we remind our clients that changes to MSCI indices, including MSCI Emerging Markets Index, were to be executed as of the close of the trading session on 31 August. Usually, the application takes two days or so, but since Egypt had no changes in the composites, it should not create too much of a hype for the next two days.