The market regained some ground on Sunday and Thursday's transactions on the back of purchases made mainly by foreigners. CASE30 closed after Sunday's transactions at 8,149 points, 2.09 per cent higher than Thursday, which is an increase in the main index of 1.3 per cent. The revival followed three painful trading sessions, where the index lost almost six per cent of its value, reaching its lowest levels in the past year. While most regional markets have been heading southwards over the past two months, Egypt has shouldered some of the heaviest losses. According to the Arab stocks database at the Abu Dhabi-based Arab Monetary Fund, in comparison to their levels at the beginning of the year, the bourses of Abu Dhabi, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Tunisia, Palestine, Morocco and Jordan had improved in terms of capitalisation by 20 August. Meanwhile, those of Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt emerged as losers. Morocco and Qatar performed best, improving by nearly $65 billion and $34 billion respectively. On the losers' side, Egypt and Saudi Arabia were the main victims, diving by around $27 billion and $20 billion respectively. On the macroeconomic front, Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros Ghali announced that Egypt's budget deficit for fiscal year 2007/2008 reached an equivalent of 6.8 per cent of GDP, as compared to 7.5 per cent for the last fiscal year. Total government revenues grew by 21.2 per cent through the year to LE218.5 billion, thanks to a 20 per cent increase in tax revenues and 23 per cent hike in other revenues. Meanwhile spending also surged to LE277.4 billion, standing at 25 per cent higher than in 2006/2007. This growth was fed by a 56 per cent increase in subsidies. EFG-HERMES: Merger talks spanning over five months between the EFG-Hermes investment bank and the Lebanese Bank Audi should conclude in the coming four to six weeks, according to EFG CEO Hassan Heikal. Speaking to Reuters news agency Heikal said if the two sides did not reach an agreement, EFG-Hermes would either sell off its 23 per cent stake in the Lebanese bank, or retain the investment in the hope of a future integration. EFG's stake is valued at $680 million, based on the closing price of Bank Audi at $90 per share. EFG bought its stake at $70 per share. On a different note, EFG-Hermes denied it had any intention to increase its newly- purchased stake in a Kuwait brokerage as it already paid a high premium for access to the highly restricted Kuwaiti brokerage market. Heikal said brokerage in Kuwait -- the second largest stock market in the Arab world -- would contribute significantly to EFG- Hermes's consolidated revenues. GHABOUR AUTO (GB AUTO): The local automobile distributor and manufacturer is setting up a joint venture with Brazilian car manufacturer Marco Polo. The new company will be called GB Polo Bus Manufacturing Company, and will be 51 per cent owned by GB Auto and 49 per cent owned by Marco Polo. GB officials revealed at a press conference last week that total investments in the new company amount to $70 million. The company will assemble passenger buses to be sold on both local and export markets. ORASCOM CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES (OCI): OCI Investor Relations Director Hassan Badrawi denied the company currently had any current plans to buy treasury stocks. Meanwhile, the local investment bank Beltone Investments said it expects OCI's second-quarter earnings to offer a positive surprise to market expectations with net earnings from continuing operations to be just under $190 million. Beltone put the average selling prices of urea at OCI -- which owns Egyptian Fertiliser Company that produces both ammonia and urea -- to average around $580 per tonne in 2008, compared to Beltone's previous estimate of around $400 per tonne. VODAFONE EGYPT: In a move aimed at strengthening its presence in Internet services and content market in Egypt, Vodafone revealed its plans to buy a majority stake in content provider Sarmady Communications (Sarcom). Relations between the two are not new: Sarcom has provided Vodafone with sports news for the past five years. Sarcom content includes popular sites such as FilGoal.com, ContactCars.com, FilBalad.com and iCroc.com. The acquisition is seen as a step towards a further improvement of Vodafone-offered broadband telecommunication services. EGYPTIAN COMPANY FOR MOBILE SERVICES (MOBINIL): The company's board of directors nominated MobiNil's CEO Alex Shalabi to chair the board in replacement of company ex- chairman and founder Naguib Sawiris. Meanwhile Sawiris will board membership. Hassan Kabbani, CEO of Orascom Telecom Algeria or Djezzy since October 2003, is set to replace Shalabi as MobiNil CEO. Both nominations are subject to ratification at MobiNil's General Assembly meeting, scheduled to take place 31 August. Compiled by Sherine Abdel-Razek
