Egypt's stocks completed a trading week of gains on Thursday after the main index approached a three-month high amid foreign and local purchases. The market's benchmark, EGX30, closed up 3 percent to register 6,563 points the highest since 12 January, encouraged by the heavyweight shares good performance. Out of 177 securities were traded during the day, 105 saw gains and 42 declined in a session that witnessed a daily turnover of EGP 970.5 million. “This is the highest turnover in about 10 months,” said Eissa Fathy the vice head of the securities division at Cairo Chamber of Commerce. Foreign investors, who represented 19 percent of the traders were net buyers to the tune of EGP 38.4 million. Egyptians bought some EGP 11.4 million worth of stocks. “The Central Bank's (CBE) new decisions to lift foreign currency caps on deposits and withdrawals by individuals and corporations have relatively bolstered the investors confidence toward banks,” Fathy told Ahram Online. A trader in the currency black market told reuters earlier on Thursday that the Egyptian Pound has been strengthened by 0.25 against the US dollar to range between 9.60 and 9.63 after the CBE decisions. Egypt's listed leading steel producer Ezz steel rose a whopping 20.09 percent to close at EGP 8.13 per share on the back of the governmental decision to down the price of the natural gas that is supplied to steel factories from $7 to $4.5 per million thermal unit. Market bellwether Commercial International Bank (CIB) surged 4.23 percent to be sold at EGP 37 per share. Telecom Egypt (TE) also soared 6.75 percent to EGP 7.12 per share. The country's landline monopolist plans to issue a dividend of 75 piasters per share for 2015, the firm said in a bourse statement on Thursday. Real estate developer Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG) gained 1.35 percent to register EGP 5.24 per share. TMG posts 2015 net profit of EGP 761.6 million versus EGP 681.8 million in the previous year . The company plans to issue a dividend of EGP 0.145 per share. Broader index EGX70 inched up 0.2 percent. (Official exchange rate is currently $1= EGP 7.73) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/190662.aspx
