In another sign that Turkey is changing course: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has appointed former Goldman Sachs managing director and First Republic Bank co-CEO Hafize Gaye Erkan to lead the country’s central bank, Reutersreported, citing a decision published in the country’s Official Gazette. This comes a week after Mehmet Simsek was named the country’s new finance minister, who pledged to bring to an end years of unorthodox monetary policies pushed by the country’s president.

The big question: Whether she will be allowed to break with Erdogan’s attempt to rate-cut his way out of soaring inflation. “In order to gain credibility and anchor market expectations with the minimum dose of rate hikes, she has to ensure that the preference towards low interest rate policies...are buried in the past,” one economist said.

EGX30

17,521

+1.0% (YTD: +20.0%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 30.84

Sell 30.96

USD at CIB

Buy 30.85

Sell 30.95

Interest rates CBE

18.25% deposit

19.25% lending

Tadawul

11,397

+0.2% (YTD: +8.8%)

ADX

9,369

+0.2% (YTD: -8.3%)

DFM

3,699

+0.3% (YTD: +10.9%)

S&P 500

4,299

+0.1% (YTD: +12.0%)

FTSE 100

7,562

-0.5% (YTD: +1.5%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,290

-0.2% (YTD: +13.1%)

Brent crude

USD 74.79

-1.5%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.25

-4.2%

Gold

USD 1,977.20

-0.1%

BTC

USD 25,865

-2.3% (YTD: +56.4%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 1.0% at Thursday’s close on turnover of EGP 2.37 bn. Local investors were net buyers. The index is up 20.0% YTD.

In the green: Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals (+8.5%), Ibnsina Pharma (+4.3%) and Telecom Egypt (+4.0%).

In the red: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (-2.9%), Edita (-1.9%) and Taaleem Management Services (-1.3%).

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