The market is lost for a trend. Ever since the Bairam holiday it has made numerous, though hesitant steps forward and back. Buying orders by Egyptians are supporting the CASE30 against foreigners' strong sales, expected at this time of the year with investors trying to close their positions before the Christmas holidays. The CASE30 index closed Tuesday at 4,324.27 points compared to 4,453 points at the end of the previous trading week and to 3,686 points, its lowest points this year at the end of November. The last trading days of last week and the first of this week witnessed important announcements both regarding the economy as a whole and in regards to particular companies. Egypt's balance of payment surplus narrowed through the first quarter of 2008- 2009 ending September, to end at LE0.5 billion, reflecting one of the early indicators of the country's losses because of the crisis. Other depressing news came from the Suez Canal Authority which said that the canal's revenues decreased by 10.2 per cent in November to $419.8 million, compared to $467.5 million in October. TELECOM EGYPT (TE): A new tranche of the company will not be floated in the market during 2009, according to Tarek Kamel, minister of communications and information technology. The company has already had a 20 per cent stake floated on the market and was supposed to offer a new stake sometime in 2009. On a more positive note, the company's subscribers increased by 700,000 during November alone, on the back of a promotional offer cancelling the administrative and installation fees on new fixed lines, both residential and commercial. CI Capital, a leading investment bank, described the figures as surprising, adding it had expected 97,000 new subscribers in the whole fourth quarter of 2008. AL-EZZ STEEL REBARS: The leading steel manufacturer posted a 65 per cent increase in its net income during the first nine months of the year to reach LE917.2. The company's net sales jumped by 44.8 per cent during that same period. Egyptian Kuwaiti Holding denied claims published on a website regarding Japan's Tokyo Marine raising its stake in the two cooperative insurance companies, Hayat and Momtalakat. Meanwhile, the company's main shareholder, the Kuwaiti Al-Kaharafi group, said it is injecting $3 billion in investment in Egypt. ASEC FOR MINING: The company signed three contracts at a total value of 2.65 million Saudi riyals with Saudi mining and cement companies. The Saudi parties involved are: Al-Jouf Cement, Arab Company for Cement and Badr. EGYPTIAN COMPANY FOR MOBILE SERVICES (MOBINIL): The company decided to distribute its second coupon for 2008 with a value of LE3.62. MobiNil had previously distributed an interim dividend per share of LE6 in September 2008. Dividends for the whole year were estimated by local investment banks to hover around LE16, which means that the next distribution, expected any time between March and May, will rise to around LE6.38, which CI Capital said is optimistic. MobiNil will most likely reduce the annual dividend to meet its 3G-related financial requirements and debt repayments. SOUTH VALLEY CEMENT: The company's capital increase including 74.434 million shares was 71.9 per cent covered. The company plans to invite its shareholders soon to subscribe to the uncovered portion, but no exact dates were specified. Moreover, the company affirmed that most of the capital increase subscription was covered by the company's founders. Compiled by Sherine Abdel-Razek
