Egypt's Stock Exchange to Start Short Selling by Year's End - Bloomberg

Egypt's Stock Exchange to Start Short Selling by Year's End - Bloomberg:

Egypt’s stock exchange aims to introduce short selling by December, part of a broader effort to boost liquidity in a market that’s also anticipating a wave of initial public offerings and stake sales by public-sector companies.

“Before the end of the year we are going to see short selling up and running and being implemented,” Mohamed Farid, the chairman of the Egyptian Exchange, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We are talking about a complete securities borrowing and lending mechanism associated or coupled with short selling.”

All technological requirements have been fulfilled and 25 to 30 brokers are registered to operate shorting, he said on Tuesday in London. Several exchanges in the Middle East, including those of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, have introduced the mechanism in the past few years, but liquidity is still low. Companies on the Egyptian exchange have $51 billion in combined market value.