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Market Report: Egypt stocks make strong rebound High-cap shares power the index up over 4 per cent, its first gain in three days, as investors react to yesterday's brief global upswing
Egyptian stocks surged back into the green Wednesday as high-caps powered the index's first gain in three days in seeming response to yesterday's short-lived upswing in global shares. After three hours of solid, optimistic trade, the benchmark EGX30 closed 4.10 per cent up at 4,661.7 points. Its swift climb followed declines of 4.75 per cent on Tuesday, and 4 and 2 per cent respectively on Sunday and Monday. The broader EGX70 did even better, surging 4.83 per cent. "The rebound of global stocks was a clear factor in Egypt's bourse climb," said Ashraf Abdel Aziz, head of institutions sales at Arabia Online Securities. World stocks shook off days of sharp losses on Tuesday, as investors hoped the Federal Reserve would come up with plans to restore confidence in the American economy. Egypt's exchange -- which opened earlier and operated for just three-hours during Ramadan -- was still playing catch-up when some other markets began showing Wednesday losses. "Despite the rebound in the indices, the level of points is still low," says Abdel Aziz. "This is normal because the Egyptian market dropped by 10.5 per cent over the last three days, so it will climb step by step." Egypt led the region's gains, the rest of the Middle East showing a mixed picture. Saudi Arabia edged up a modest 0.55 per cent, Israel fell 3.3 per cent. Dubai and Abu Dhabi exchanged both gained around 1 per cent. Trade volume remained much the same as Tuesday, finishing at LE396 million. Foreign and insitutional investors took larger slices that in recent days, showing marked interest in Egypt's most stolid, established firms. Commercial International Bank (CIB) was focus of the most activity -- some LE63.07m -- with its shares gaining a solid 1.7 per cent. Other high-caps shared the good news, with Orascom Construction (OCI) reversing recent heavy losses to soar 6.96 per cent. "OCI was one of the most prominent of bluechips on Wednesday's session, recovering after declining some 17 per cent over the last five days," Abdel Aziz commented. Sister company Orascom Telecom, the fourth most-traded stock, also did well, gaining 4.75 per cent on Wednesday. EFG Hermes was the leading financial services firm, closing up 6.05 per cent. There were just a few of many; of the day's 178 listed stocks, 160 gained and 11 declined, with small-caps like Pioneer and El-Sewedy also seeing substantial climbs.
