Egypt's stock market rose 1.25 per cent on Thursday, with the benchmark EGX30 index reaching 5,504 points in the last session of the week on the back of high trade activity for leading shares. "The capital tax scarecrow is gone and now is the time for a quick response," Ashraf Abdel Aziz, head of institutions sales at Arabia Online Securities told Ahram Online. Conflicting reports over the introduction of a Capital Gains Tax sparked uncertainty among investors earlier in the week. The proposal has now been scrapped. Shares in Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) were up 4 per cent, leading the list of active heavyweights in Thursday's session and follow by Ezz Steel, up 1.1 per cent, and Pioneers Holding, up 3.7 per cent. "OCI's buying of 440,000 treasury stocks caused the jump," Abdel Aziz says. Of 186 listed stocks, 133 gained value and 40 declined in LE492.5million (US$83.4m) of total equities trades. Foreigners were the only net-sellers, off-loading LE 42.1mn in shares, while Egyptians and Arabs were net-buyers of LE 37.6m and LE 4.5m respectively. Real estate stars TMG and Palm Hills Development rode the wave, rising 1.7 per cent and 2.2 per cent . Upper Egypt Contracting was among the top-gaining shares, climbing 5.05 per cent due to the interest of 1,054 traders. CI Capital and the Commerical International Bank were among the prominent losers, dipping 2.8 per cent and 0.13 per cent respectively, and recording LE 78.2m of market turnover. Industrial goods and financial services were the two major scetors to decline, standing out in a day of relatively solid gains.
