This study examined the effect of using inter and exit signals of three of the most common used technical analysis strategies on achieving abnormal return compared with the buy and hold strategy in the Egyptian security market. The tests were done using data for short term, relatively long term, during bull and bear market. Using bootstrap methodology and wilcoxon/mann-whitney test for daily closing prices during the period from 1-1-1998 to 14-1-2016, the results indicated that; First, market timing with technical analysis yields more return and reduces risk in general. Second, short term investing is not recommended at all, as it is less profitable even than bear market period. Third, in long term and during bull market technical analysis is more profitable than short term. Fourth, technical analysis importance have been reduced during the last few years due to the effect of the Egyptian revolution on the security market. As for investors, they should use technical analysis trading rules to determine when to enter and exit the market, so that they can improve their investment decisions, as it leads to achieve abnormal return and reduces risk more than buy and hold strategy in all cases, while pay more attention for the current and political events than before.

This paper investigates the relation between stock market sentiment and firms' propensity to pay dividends in the MENA region for the period 2000-2015. Using conventional determinants of cash distributions as control variables, our results show that the tendency to pay dividends is negatively related to the aggregate investors' sentiment but positively related to the dividend premium. Unlike prior literature, we report no association between firms' dividend policy and issues of stock market liquidity. Overall, we suggest that corporate payout policies in the case of the MENA region can best be explained by the dividend catering hypothesis.