Turmoil in the international equities market and anticipation of the Congress' $700 billion bailout plan weighed down on the local market. CASE, which has been heading southwards for some time now albeit with very short-lived upward intervals since Wall Street's crisis began, ended Tuesday's transactions at 7,141 points. This put the index at 11.2 per cent lower than its level on Sunday, 24 hours before Lehman Brothers bankruptcy triggered a global financial meltdown. Foreign, Arab and local investors all became heavy sellers last week and the first three sessions of this trading week, with the exception of Wednesday, where short- lived buying sprees put brakes on selling and caused freefall. News on the local front was not encouraging either. The Central Bank of Egypt raised its overnight deposit and lending rate for the sixth time this year to curb inflation which surged to 25 per cent in August -- its highest level in 16 months. Current rates are 11.5 per cent on deposits and 13.5 per cent on lending. Meanwhile, subsidies and grants of LE92.3 billion pushed total state expenditures in fiscal year 2007-2008 to LE288.7 billion. TALAAT MUSTAFA GROUP (TMG): The group's new Chairman Tareq Talaat Mustafa insisted that the group's investments at Saudi Arabia, estimated at $2.6 billion, are still going as planned. Meanwhile he was also quoted by Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper as saying the group will start developing a new project in Jeddah in addition to its previously announced mega-development project in Riyadh. The projects will be executed by the company's joint venture with the Saudi Aloula Development company. ORASCOM CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES (OCI): The company's newly- operating Arabian Sea Foundation (ASF) has been awarded its first construction contract worth $150 million just a few weeks after its establishment. The contract includes the construction of residential towers in Shams Abu Dhabi. ASF is a joint venture in which OCI has a 50 per cent stake. It was established in July with around $80 million investments, to be financed from paid-in capital and bank loans. On another front, OCI's board of directors gave the green light to a plan to buy back up to 10.7 million shares, representing five per cent of the company's total outstanding shares. SIXTH OF OCTOBER DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT COMPANY (SODIC): The company concluded contracts with two companies, SIAC and Genza, to establish units at SODIC's development project in Algeria. Meanwhile, the company's managing director was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying that SODIC is in talks to buy off other Egyptian real estate companies, to take advantage of the fall in local share prices and expand its land holdings. He said the company could acquire about 700,000 square metres of land over the next six months. EFG-HERMES: The regional investment bank bought a stake in the UAE-based Gulf Housing Solutions (GHS) for $65 million. GHS- EFG-Hermes buys, develops, subleases and manages staff accommodation facilities for the Emirates' construction industry and hospitality sector. With this latest investment EFG will become the largest shareholder in the company and help it to expand within the Gulf region, according to an EFG-Hermes press statement. ORASCOM TELECOM HOLDING (OTH): As part of its share buy-back plan, launched in mid-August, OTH said it purchased 243,000 GDRs, equivalent to 1,215 million shares as treasury stock on 10 September. The company's plan includes 44.9 million shares, or 8.9 million GDRs. In a separate development, OTH received a notification from the Sawiris family -- company major shareholders -- to buy LE800 million worth of shares, in partnership with subsidiaries. OTH issued and paid-in capital stands at about LE1,082 billion, divided into 1,082 billion shares at a par value of LE1. GHABBOUR AUTO (GB AUTO): The company injected $30 million of fresh investments in its Prima plant which is specialised in producing Hyundai passenger cars to increase its annual capacity from 35,000 to 90,000 passenger cars starting 2009. TORAH CEMENT: The company's shareholders will have two shares for every share they own until 8 October 2008. Moreover, the company will increase its paid-in capital from LE238.4 million to LE357.6 million by distributing two shares for every share as dividends. TELECOM EGYPT: Egypt's sole fixed line network operator is getting mixed assessments from financial institutions. HSBC reduced the company's share target price from LE29 to LE24, citing inflationary pressures. Moreover, HSBC lowered its forecasts for TE's earnings for fiscal year 2008 to LE2.963 billion, compared to the previous LE3.089. Meanwhile, Commercial International Brokerage Company reiterated its "buy" recommendation on the stock, maintaining its 12-month target price at LE25.10. Market analysts believe that the National Telecom Regulatory Authority's decision to postpone the fixed line licence auction for a year will benefit TE for another year, before it starts facing competition. Compiled by Sherine Abdel-Razek
