Egypt’s stocks ended the trading week up on Thursday, coinciding with an announcement by the Ministry of Finance that the capital gains tax (CGT) would remain suspended till May 2017 in an attempt to stimulate investments.

 

The market’s benchmark EGX30 rose 1.41 percent to register 7,547 points in a session that saw local investors as the only net sellers.

 

In July 2014, the government imposed a 10 percent bourse tax on investors as part of its efforts to overhaul an economy battered by years of political turmoil, but the cabinet decided last year to postpone the implementation of the capital gains tax for two years.

 

The tax comprised a capital gains component and a stock dividend duty.

 

Out of 166 stocks listed for the day, 113 went up and 27 declined, while the daily turnover reached some EGP 521.6 million.

 

Mostly of the heavyweight shares saw gains led by Commercial International Bank (CIB), which up 0.44 percent to close at EGP 43.75 per share.

 

Real estate developer Emaar Misr for Development rose 1.60 percent to register EGP 2.54 per share. The company announced a net profit of EGP 254.49 million in the first quarter of 2016, up 47.3 percent from the same period last year.

 

Property developer Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG) increased 1.45 percent to close at EGP 6.29 per share.

 

Egypt’s leading investment bank EFG Hermes was the most traded for the day, soaring 3.49 percent to register EGP 10.07 per share.

 

EFG Hermes is planning to increase the investments it manages in renewable energy to 1.5-2 billion euros in the next two years from 730 million currently, Bakr Abdel-Wahab, its managing director of infrastructure private equity, said in a Reuters interview on Thursday.

 

Broader index EGX70 climbed 0.6 percent.