Stocks
The Suez Canal Authority Pension Fund, as noted on the bank’s website, already holds a 10.10 percent stake in the bank
President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi convened Tuesday with the heads of the National Petroleum Company (NPC) and National Co. for Natural Water in Siwa (Safi).
The benchmark EGX30 inched down 0.02 percent, or 1.51 points, to end at 9,685.85 points.
The fresh trade tensions come ahead a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting which is expected to see interest rates reduced by 25 basis points (bps) in its first rate cut in more than a decade.
Fed expectations have not dented the dollar however. It stood around a one-week high against a basket of currencies after the previous day’s half-percent jump.
The pan-European STOXX 600 climbed 0.2% after losing 1.4% over the past four sessions. Germany’s DAX futures rose and Britain’s FTSE futures gained 0.3%.
In Europe, the broader Euro STOXX 600 edged up 0.3%, with Germany’s DAX rising 0.6%, while France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.2%.
Oil and metals markets added to the pressure on stocks on Thursday with traders sending copper to a 2-month low.
The benchmark EGX30 lessened 1.05 percent, or 155.48 points, to close at 14,645.78 points.
Oil prices jumped to near six-month highs on Tuesday as the United States tightened sanctions on Iran, sending shares of energy companies higher but largely failing to help the currencies of the main crude-oil producers.
European shares followed their Asian counterparts and opened marginally higher.
Sterling was also hit by a bout of Brexit blues after a round of votes in the U.K. parliament failed to produce any new plan to manage its divorce from the European Union.
Oil prices rose on Tuesday amid OPEC-led supply cuts and U.S. sanctions against Iran and Venezuela, although analysts expect surging U.S. output and concerns over economic growth to keep markets in check.
Asian shares gained on Tuesday as investors hoped a new round of U.S.-China trade talks would help to resolve a dispute that has dented global growth and some corporate earnings.
The Fed said it would pause its 3-year interest rate rise campaign while assessing the weakening of the economy.
“We believe trade growth next year will slow significantly on huge uncertainty and high base,” Citi analysts wrote in a note, predicting China’s exports and imports to fall 5.1 percent and 6.8 percent respectively this year.
“I think there’s a chance that the market could rally into the end of the year,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
All three major indexes ended down more than 2 percent the day before the Christmas holiday.
S&P500 e-mini futures fell almost 2 percent at one point in thin Asian morning trade and were last were down 1.3 percent.
The benchmark EGX30 declined 2.39 percent, or 309.7 points, to close at 12,624.74 points.
