China’s property crisis deepens, threatening wider economy: New home prices in China fell last month for the first time in 2023, new data revealed, on the same day a major trust fund with real estate exposure said it had missed payments on investment products, Reuters reports. The missed payments by Zhongrong International Trust Company have investors worried that woes in the Chinese property sector could contaminate its USD 3 tn shadow financial services sector, which is heavily exposed to real estate. The country’s largest developer, Country Garden, is already scrambling to avoid defaulting on its debt next month.

Hedge funds are getting out: Global hedge funds have been “aggressively” offloading Chinese equities, Reuters separately quotes a Goldman Sachs report out this week as saying. Hedge funds were net sellers of Chinese equities in eight of the last ten sessions, with money managers unraveling both long and short positions.

ALSO WORTH NOTING-

  • KSA dumps US treasuries in search for higher returns: Saudi Arabia’s holdings of US treasuries have fallen to their lowest level in six years, as the country looks for higher returns on its investments amid a growing backlash against the supremacy of the USD. (Bloomberg)
  • Will EY try to split itself up again? PE outfit TPG Capital is reportedly eyeing astake in Big Four firm EY’s consulting business, potentially reviving earlier plans to spin off EY’s consulting arm from its auditing arm in what would be a major shakeup for the global accounting industry. (Financial Times)
  • UK inflation rises at slowest rate since February 2022: Inflation eased by 1.1 percentage points to 6.8% y-o-y in July, meeting expectations, as energy prices cooled. (Financial Times)

EGX30

17,969

-0.5% (YTD: +23.1%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 30.83

Sell 30.96

USD at CIB

Buy 30.85

Sell 30.95

Interest rates CBE

19.25% deposit

20.25% lending

Tadawul

11,451

+0.5% (YTD: +9.3%)

ADX

9,801

+0.2% (YTD: -4.0%)

DFM

4,050

0.0% (YTD: +21.4%)

S&P 500

4,370

0.0% (YTD: +13.8%)

FTSE 100

7,262

-0.7% (YTD: -2.5%)

Euro St o xx 50

4,213

-0.4% (YTD: +11.1%)

Brent crude

USD 84.80

+0.8%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.55

-2.7%

Gold

USD 1,916.50

+0.1%

B T C

USD 26,071

-0.1% (YTD: +58.5%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell -0.5% on Thursday on turnover of EGP 1.75 bn (13.8% below the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net buyers . The index is up 23.1% YTD.

In the green: Heliopolis Housing (+1.3%), Beltone Financial (+0.9%) and B Investments (+0.8%).

In the red: Juhayna (-8.0%), Talaat Moustafa Group (-3.6%) and CIRA Education (-2.9%).

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