Egypt's main index hit a record high for the second consecutive day on Wednesday with the main index EGX30 gaining 1.1 percent to reach 8,287 points. The session saw a high dailyturnover of LE1.2 billion ($171 million). "The market broke a difficult level of 7,600 points last month and is continuing the upward trend," said Ashraf Abdel-Aziz, head of institutional sales at the Cairo-based Arabia Online. According to Abdel-Aziz, the Egyptian market was not alone in the region with its high performance on Wednesday – markets in Saudi Arabia and the two Emirates have all registered record levels recently. "The market performance has been positive since September, generally a consequence of a too-long period of regression, which is a normal reaction. Stock markets do not regress or gain forever," Abdel-Aziz said. Egyptians were the only net buyers, while Arab and non-Arab investors were net sellers Financial services excluding banks led the market in terms of turnover, with Pioneers Holding inching up 2.52 percent to close at LE14.26. EFG-Hermes's share rose 0.76 percent to LE13.22. Egypt's telecommunications sector followed gainers Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding (OTMT) and Global Telecom Holding, up 2.04 percent to close at LE1.50 per share and 2.16 percent to LE4.47 respectively. The sector's bellwether Telecom Egypt grew 0.13 percent to close at LE15.96 per share. The market's biggest cap Commercial International Bank (CIB) saw its share price rising by 0.24 to close at LE37.15. In the real estate sector, Palm Hills Development Company was up 0.75 percent to close at LE4.03, while Six of October Development and Investment (SODIC) climbed 7.28 percent to LE28.13. TMG Holding lost 0.24 percent, closing at LE8.35. Out of 179 shares listed during the day, 109 gained in value while 56 lost. The broader index EGX70, however, was down by 1.63 percent. "This decrease of the EGX70 can be explained by the fact that most of the index's shares are illiquid shares, while investors are concentrating more on liquid stocks," said Abdel-Aziz. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/97078.aspx
