The lack of inspiring news and a series of holidays resulted in the market maintaining the two previous weeks' downward trend. Sherine Abdel-Razek reports For the third consecutive week the market ended trading in the red. Market observers are dismissing the possibility that the current decline will continue, seeing it as a comparatively long-lived correction movement due to the spiral gains the market's had been recording since the beginning of the year. They predict a market revival as many stocks slip to relatively cheap levels. The last trading week also saw stocks slipping amid selling orders from retail investors looking to liquidate their positions before the start of a series of market holidays. The market was closed for five days from Thursday 20 April until Tuesday morning. The absence of any inspiring news also strengthened the trend. The stock market's most active shares index, CASE30, ended the week at 3,939 points compared to 4,045 on the previous week. Orascom Hotels and Development closed 6.5 per cent lower to last trade at LE36.42. Company shareholders were disappointed due by the general assembly's decision not to launch Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) any time soon. Regional telecom operator Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) also fell to close at LE430. There was no news about OTH's dispute with the Palestinian Investment Fund concerning the former's bid to increase its stakes in Algerian and Tunisian GSM operators as of the end of the trading week on Wednesday. However, a company statement released on Sunday said that it had resolved "all pending issues" with the Palestine Investment Fund from which it was seeking to buy additional stakes worth more than 20 per cent in each of its Tunisian and Algerian subsidiaries. Investors interested in the IT sector seem to be holding their investments in anticipation of the listing of a newcomer, Raya Holding Group. The company will be listed starting 3 May 2005, and an LE175 million private placement for existing shareholders is expected to follow. On a related note, on 16 April the company commenced its scheduled road show in the Gulf Region. Two weeks before the release of its quarterly results, MobiNil fell 2.7 per cent. The company is obtaining a local syndicated loan of LE 1.8 billion, jointly provided by the National Bank of Egypt, Bank Misr and Commercial International Bank (CIB). According to the loan agreement, MobiNil will pay it back over eight years with an interest rate of 11.5 per cent, and the funds will be used to finance the company's required capital expenditures over the next two years. Another member of the Orascom family, construction conglomerate Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), kept its ground, slipping only 0.5 per cent during the week. This came in the wake of its announcement that it has started construction operations in its cement plant in the Kurdish region of Iraq. The plant, in which OCI holds a 51 per cent stake, is expected to become operational in 2007, sporting an annual cement capacity of 2.5 million tonnes and an investment cost of $350 million, according to a report issued by Prime Securities. The banking sector was the week's star with the governor of Central Bank of Egypt revealing a plan to privatise all public-sector banks. Egyptian American Bank, (EAB), a joint venture bank, capitalised on news about its pending privatisation to defy the market's downward trend and finish the week up 1.7 per cent. Private-sector CIB fell by 2.99 per cent to arrive at LE44.11 per share, even though the bank celebrated the inauguration of its Dubai Representative Office during the week. The Representative Office will promote all the bank's activities and is expected to create opportunities in cross-border transactions, with an emphasis placed on syndications, investment banking activities and trade finance.
