Egypt's stock market closed the week on Thursdaywith a three-year high as daily turnover of listed securities hit LE1.4 billion ($201 million). The benchmark index EGX30 inched up 0.53 percent to record 8,140 points. "Liquid stocks with large volumes and small prices led the market to its highest turnover in years," Ashraf Abdel-Aziz, head of institutional sales at the Cairo-based Arabia Online Securities, told Ahram Online. Abdel-Aziz said that stocks under LE5 ($0.72) per share made up almost 60 percent of the market's turnover. Orascom Telecom Media and Technology holding (OTMT) made its highest turnover to the tune of LE286 million ($41 million), but at a decline of 1.32 percent to record LE1.47 ($0.21) per share. OTMT announced its financial results on Thursday, showing a 69.5 percent decline from a year earlier to LE1.12 billion ($161 million). The five companies with the highest turnover also include real estate company Palm Hills Development (PHD), investment bank EFG-Hermes, Arab Cotton Ginning (ACG) and Amer Group (AG), all of which managed to achieve a collective turnover of LE623 million ($89.5 million), equivalent to 45 percent of Thursday's turnover. PHD, EFG-Hermes, ACG and AG were all gainers, rising 2.71 percent to LE3.8 ($0.55) per share; 1.96 percent to LE13.2 ($1.9) per share; 0.14 percent to LE6.95 ($0.9) per share and 2.53 percent to LE1.65 ($0.24) per share, respectively. Both Telecom Egypt and Global Telecom Holding declined, down 0.35 percent to LE16.2 ($2.3) per share and 0.64 percent to LE4.67 ($0.67) per share respectively. The broader index EGX70 dropped 1.35 percent in a session that saw mostly Egyptians as net suppliers, while Arab investors were net sellers at a net value of LE8 million ($1.15 million). http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/96598.aspx
