Pharos Spearheads Retail Investor Education and Highlights Trading Trends
• Retail trading value rises 8% y-o-y
• Intra-day trading value rises 16% y-o-y
Pharos Holding for Financial Investments, a leading investment bank based in Egypt, is participating in the fourth annual Stock Market Exhibition and Conference organized by Trend. The four-day event takes place from April 8th to 11th at the Cairo International Conference Center.
“The conference theme, “Beyond the Crisis”, provides a broad platform for addressing the challenges faced by retail investors in light of the global financial crisis and how they can best manage their portfolios,” said Dr Mohamed Taymour, Chairman. “Having experienced the worst year on record for the local market and perhaps globally, communicating with retail investors is more important than ever. A solid understanding promotes sound investment decisions based on appropriate risk- reward evaluations.”
Taymour will discuss the impact of the financial crisis on global stock markets on April 9th. Pharos market experts will also be available throughout the conference to directly respond to visitors’ inquiries and provide portfolio management advice geared towards retail investors.
“Despite challenging conditions, retail trading remains the driving force behind the Egyptian market,” said Hussein El Sherbiny, Managing Partner and Head of Brokerage. “In March 2009, retail trading has accounted for almost 60% of daily trading value and 92% of transactions; a rise of 8 and 2% respectively compared to the same period of 2008. This reveals that investors have faith in market recovery and are coming to terms with the cyclical nature of equity markets.”
Intra-day trading, which allows investors to buy and sell active stocks on the same day, has also increased. “Uncertainty might drive some investors to opt for modest yet instant gains.
Same-day trades have accounted for almost 16% of daily trading value and 14% of transactions in March 2009, a rise of 11 and 7% compared to the same period of last year,” said El Sherbiny.
Recently, Pharos issued the 2009 Strategy Report recommending equity investors to adopt a defensive strategy, based on selecting companies with healthy balance sheets likely to be least affected by the downturn. The strategy also recommends a number of stocks for risk takers based on each stock’s own fundamentals. “We believe that different sets of opportunities lie under various market conditions and we are committed to helping our clients identify and maximise these opportunities,” said Suha Najjar, Managing Partner and Head of Research.
