{"id":595449,"date":"2019-09-26T04:04:07","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T04:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/09\/26\/what-were-tracking-on-26-september-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-09-26T04:04:07","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T04:04:07","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-26-september-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/09\/26\/what-were-tracking-on-26-september-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 26 September 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may now take a breath: The sell-off on the EGX30 finally cooled off yesterday<\/b> as the index closed up 3.2%, breaking an eight-session losing streak. We\u2019re going to go out on a limb and say it is likely to be an uneventful day today as investors hold their breath ahead of the central bank\u2019s interest rate decision and wait to see whether there are protests again this weekend.<\/p>\n

And for all of the hand-wringing this week, it\u2019s particularly nice to end with a run of decent business news: <\/b>Global insurance giant Prudential is investing in a Sarwa Capital subsidiary, e-commerce startup MaxAB just raised a massive USD 6.2 bn seed round, and France\u2019s Valeo is going to open two customer service centers in Egypt. We have chapter and verse on all three developments in this morning\u2019s Speed Round, below.<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s right, folks: It\u2019s interest rate day. The Central Bank of Egypt\u2019s Monetary Policy Committee <\/b>will meet today to review key interest rates. The market\u2019s reaction to last weekend\u2019s protests \u201ccoupled with greater political risk across the Middle East, mean a more moderate cut, or even a hold, may now also be on the table,\u201d Bloomberg<\/a> forecasts.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s expecting what?<\/b> Eight of the nine economists we surveyed<\/a> expect a rate cut of 50-150 bps, while all respondents to Reuters\u2019 interest rate poll also expect a cut. Our friend the economist Reham El Desoki told Bloomberg she expects a 50-100 bps cut, but isn\u2019t ruling out a \u201cmore conservative\u201d decision to keep rates on hold for now and accelerate monetary easing next year. Expectations of a cut come on the back of unexpectedly low inflation figures in August. Prime Securities\u2019 Mona Bedair also said in a research note picked up by Masrawy yesterday<\/a> she expects a 50-100 bps cut when the MPC meets today.<\/p>\n

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Middle East eurobond issuances are ramping up as interest rates come down:<\/b> Corporate and sovereign eurobond issuances in the Middle East and North Africa are hitting the market \u201cat a record pace as global monetary easing prompts them to exploit the lowest funding costs they\u2019ve ever experienced,\u201d according to Bloomberg<\/a>. The region has seen around USD 85 bn-worth of eurobond sales this year, with Saudi Aramco and Qatar leading the pack with the largest issuances. Saudi Arabia could also bring a new issuance to market this year, while the Egyptian government is expected to move ahead<\/a> with a USD 2.5-3 bn eurobond issuance at the end of 2019 or early 2020.<\/p>\n

Conferences taking place in the coming days:<\/p>\n