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Egypt's stocks rebound, but investors still cautious about Friday protests A mixed week on the Egyptian market ends on an upnote, though investors appear cautious
Egypt's benchmark EGX30 ended the week in the green as it closed up 1.04 per cent reaching 4,137 points to offset losses faced on Wednesday. “Despite recovery, I think that was a cautious rebound because investors are monitoring [the situation ahead of] Friday's protests,” said Ashraf Abdel Aziz, head of institutional sales at Arabeya Online Securities. The broader EGX70 and EGX100 saw gains of 2.4 per cent and 1.7 per cent respectively. Of 181 listed stocks 110 were up while 59 fell in a session that saw turnover of LE305 million. Foreigners were the only net buyers, at LE6.7 million, while Egyptians and Arabs were net sellers at LE4.7 million and LE2 million respectively. All sectors were in the green except basics and pharmaceuticals, which both declined. "Most high-cap shares recovered, headed by OCI (Orascom Construction Industries) which rose 1.7 per cent achieving the highest turnover in EGX30 listed stocks with LE47 million. It reached about six per cent of the market's turnover … a good performance,” Abdel-Aziz commented. Both of CIB (Commercial International Bank) and OT (Orascom Telecom) gained one per cent while Mobinil climbed only 0.7 per cent. Real estate shares took part in the upswing up led by Talaat Mustafa Group (TMG) that recorded a four per cent up, while SODIC elevated slightly by 0.3 per cent. TMG company official Tarek El-Naggar said the group would spend LE6 billion ($1 billion) each year on its flagship Madinaty and El-Rehab developments, funded partly from client receivables, Al-Mal newspaper reported Thursday. Palm Hills Development, Telecom Egypt and Ezz Steel were the prominent downward heading stocks, with 1.5 per cent, one per cent and 0.3 per cent losses respectively. “Telecom Egypt is going in the opposite direction to the market, so if the general trend is up we will find TE Egypt down … ” Abdel-Aziz added. Palm Hills' share price hit a record low after the company's board approved returning a plot of land to the government to ease "future financial burdens".The developer's shares dropped to 1.27 Egyptian pounds, the lowest since the company listed in May 2008. Palm Hills's board approved returning the 190-feddan (82 hectares) plot on the outskirts of Cairo, the company said in a filing to the Egyptian Exchange yesterday. The company had not developed or marketed the property, located on the eastern part of 6th of October City, the statement said.
