Market report: Egyptian stocks rise for the third day in a row

A tender offer on Olympic Group and exchange on Commercial International Bank and Telecom Egypt sustained the market on Tuesday

The Egyptian bourse rose for the third consecutive day, following a holiday of five days. The main index, EGX30, rose slightly by 0.28 per cent to 4,728 points. Total market turnover reached LE326.9 million.
For Issa Fathy, vice president of the securities division in Cairo's Chamber of Commerce, this upward trend can be simply explained by the end of the month of Ramadan and the increase in opening hours. ''Speculators came back after Ramadan and they want the market to move'', explains Fathy.
However, Fathy says that he cannot predict if the upward trend can be sustained in the coming days. ''The low turnover makes it harder to predict the trends for the upcoming period, even in the short term. There is not enough liquidity to sustain the market. We need to reach half a billion or even one billion to be able to make accurate predictions. With a low turnover, fluctuations are common'', he added.
Fathy still hopes that the tender offer concluded today on Olympic Group can help increase liquidity over the coming days. The transaction gave a push to the market today.
The session of the trial of former president Mubarak which ended on Monday evening did not have a significant influence on the market. ''The fact that there was no live coverage of the trial decreased its influence on the market. The days of first two court hearings, trade was limited because everybody was in front of the TV, watching'', he said.
Many of the high-cap firms showed decline on Tuesday, such as Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), the biggest market cap, which showed 0.64 per cent loss. Orascom Telecom Holding (OT) also lost 0.29 per cent. However, it continued to lead the market in terms of turnover for the second day in a row, recording LE49.2 million.
Orascom Development Holding AG was the main loser, with a 6.59 per cent decline. The second loser was Golden Textiles & Clothes Wool, declining by 4.43 per cent. Then came Alexandria New Medical Center, which lost 3.81 per cent. The main gainer was National Cement stock with 4 per cent.
Among the blue chips, Commercial International Bank showed the best performance. ''The CIB sustained the high cap and gave momentum to the market'', says Issa Fathy.
Shares of the biggest market cap in the banking sector increased by 1.72 per cent on Tuesday.
Telecom Egypt was another big cap that showed a relatively good performance. The share increased by 0.52 per cent and was mainly purchased by foreigners. Telecoms stocks, except Orascom Telecom Holding (OT), were in the green.
From 180 listed companies 59 gained, 101 declined and 20 remained unchanged.
EGX 70 continued its negative trend, losing 0.62 per cent. Egyptians and individuals were net sellers today, as well as Arabs. Foreigners and institutions were net buyers.