The market momentum of last week retreated temporarily on Monday as profit-taking dominated. Wael Gamal reports Awaiting more first quarter results, Egyptian stocks saw a slight drop on Monday to end four consecutive sessions of rising prices. Profit taking took the CASE30 index down by 1.48 per cent to close at the level of 4417.06 points. The signs for this were apparent in the opening session of the week on Sunday. Although stocks continued their upward trend of the previous week, there was a noticeably lower momentum than last week. Considerable gains last week seem to have prompted investors to reap some profits. However, Monday's session witnessed some late buying that pushed stocks like Orascom Construction Industries and MobiNil off their session lows, suggesting that there was still appetite for Egyptian shares at current levels. Nonetheless, OCI dipped 0.4 per cent to LE147.50, while MobiNil slid 3.2 per cent to LE194.14. On the other hand, Asec Cement Co continued its strong performance, trading up by 4.8 per cent to reach LE25.80, this on top of a rise of 6.3 per cent during Sunday's session. New management and strong recently released results made it one of the sector's most attractive stocks. Asec announced last week that it made a net profit of LE96.18 million in the first quarter of 2005, compared to a meagre LE0.71 million in the same period a year earlier. This market performance came after a strong surge the previous week. Combined with substantial trading volume, the upward trend has resolved many concerns about the direction of the market. Last Tuesday, the market started gathering momentum with key stocks leading the up trend, ending a prolonged period of sideways trading as companies began releasing their first quarter results. After starting the week with a slight decline, CASE 30 index took off again to close at 4,412 points on Thursday with a week over week increase of 5.4 per cent to 4,412 points. The market was less active with the total value traded reaching LE1,228 million compared to LE1,833 million during the previous week while the total volume went down to reach 41 million shares compared to 76 million shares last week, executed over 31,000 transactions, up from 28,000 the week before. Shares accounted for 82 per cent of the total market's trading value this week, followed by the bonds and the OTC recording 13 per cent and five per cent, respectively. Individuals accounted for 47 per cent of the value traded, with institutions making up the remaining 53 per cent. The Egyptians controlled 64 per cent of the value traded during the week with the balance owed to the foreigners, who were net buyers with a net equity inflow of LE 222 million. In terms of value traded, the telecommunications sector topped the market with a total value traded of LE344 million, representing 28 per cent of the total value traded during the week. This came as a result of the high value traded (LE128 million) made by Orascom Telecom Holding (OT), accounting for more than 10 per cent of total value traded of the market, followed by Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (MobiNil) and Vodafone Egypt with total values traded of LE114 million and LE102 million, respectively. The telecommunication sector also recorded a very strong performance during the week. Stocks traditionally popular with foreign and institutional investors climbed during the session. Vodafone Egypt, showing a 16 per cent growth in subscribers and 37 per cent increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), ranked as the market's fourth most active stock. Its share price rose by 8.39 per cent to close at LE83.31 to also be the market's fourth top performer. After the market closed, the company reported a three per cent drop in net profit for the year ending in March, after it set aside LE629 million pending settlement of a tax dispute with the Egyptian government. EBITDA rose 37 per cent, broadly in line with estimates. Meanwhile, OT rose LE15.59, or 3.2 per cent, to a closing high of LE503. The stock also hit an all-time high of LE504.99 during the session. MobiNil saw a 6.13 per cent share price increase to close at LE198.71. The building materials and construction sector retreated to second place with a total value traded of LE255 million and a total volume of 4.7 million shares, led by Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), which stood as the most active company in terms of value traded during the week, registering a total value traded of LE151 million. OCI rose by 9.29 per cent to close at LE139.68, which positioned it as the market's third top performer. The CASE's top performer of the week was Olympic Group with a price increase of 12.46 per cent to close at LE19.05.
