(MENAFN- Arab Times) Egypt's stock market tumbled on Monday, breaking major technical support, as leading property firm Emaar Misr plunged following its listing on Sunday. Most Gulf markets fell modestly because of lower oil prices and the turmoil in Greece.
The Egyptian stock index tumbled 4.2 percent to 7,871 points, smashing a band of strong chart support between 8,125 and 8,261 points, the December and May lows.
This was very negative technically, triggering a bearish right triangle formed by the highs and lows since mid-December and pointing down to the 6,800-point area in the longer term.
The market has been hit by a string of concerns over the past month, including foreign exchange and energy shortages, bloody clashes with militants in the Sinai, and the central bank's decision to let the Egyptian pound resume depreciating gradually.
A week ago, the bourse ordered that Egyptian investors who buy global depository receipts (GDRs) by purchasing shares on the Cairo exchange in Egyptian pounds may only receive their returns in the local currency. This appeared to be aimed at eliminating an avenue for acquiring dollars, and removed one incentive for buying stocks.
Also hurting sentiment this week was the disappointing debut of Emaar Misr, the Egyptian arm of Dubai's Emaar Properties .
After a heavily oversubscribed initial public offer at 3.80 Egyptian pounds, the stock came under heavy selling when it listed on Sunday; its volume weighted average price was 3.94 pounds and its last trade was 3.75 pounds.
On Monday the stock plunged 10.4 percent to 3.53 pounds in heavy trade, indicating gloomy investors were willing to bail out at levels below the IPO price. Before the IPO, analysts put fair value for the stock at around 4.70 pounds.
Egypt's MENA news agency quoted an unnamed bourse official as saying Emaar Misr had responded to the plunge of its share price by offering to buy back 90 million shares, or 15 percent of the total sold in the IPO, at 3.80 pounds. Bourse and company officials were not available to comment.
Another big real estate developer, Palm Hills Development , tumbled 6.3 percent.
Gulf markets were weak after Brent crude oil dropped below $60 a barrel to its lowest level since mid-April and Greece's "No" vote in its bailout referendum destabilised global markets. However, there was no panic in the Gulf and retail investors remained willing to buy on dips.
The Saudi Arabian index fell 0.3 percent as Alinma Bank, again the most heavily traded stock, slid 0.6 percent and property developer Dar Al Arkan dropped 1.1 percent.
Dubai's stock index slid 0.3 percent as Drake & Scull, which had surged in the previous two days after removing ownership limits for Gulf nationals, pulled back 4.6 percent.
Many active stocks rose, however; Amlak Finance gained 0.8 percent. Gulf Finance House edged up 0.7 percent and was the most heavily traded stock after the National newspaper quoted its chief executive as saying the company planned to make an acquisition this year and float a unit.
Abu Dhabi edged up 0.3 percent as telecommunications operator Etisalat climbed 3.3 percent.
Dana Gas, which had soared 13.7 percent on Sunday after saying it had obtained a favourable ruling from a London arbitration tribunal in a payment dispute with Kurdistan, surged again in early trade but closed 1.7 percent lower. It was Abu Dhabi's most heavily traded stock.
Kurdistan's Ministry of Natural Resources said in a statement late on Sunday that Dana's statement was "highly misleading to the market" and created an impression that was "both inaccurate and incomplete".
Qatar's index edged down 0.3 percent with Barwa Real Estate dropping 0.2 percent. Barwa announced a five-year business plan targeting a return on equity of no less than 15 percent to the end of 2020.
Saudi Arabia
n The index fell 0.3 percent to 9,131 points.
Dubai
n The index dropped 0.3 percent to 4,056 points.
Abu Dhabi
n The index edged up 0.3 percent to 4,752 points.
Qatar
n The index fell 0.3 percent to 11,967 points.
Egypt
n The index tumbled 4.2 percent to 7,871 points.
Kuwait
n The index slid 0.4 percent to 6,167 points.
Oman
n The index edged up 0.01 percent to 6,435 points.
Bahrain
n The index fell 0.8 percent to 1,338 points.
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