CAIRO: Telecom Egypt surprised the market on Thursday with a 72 percent rise in net profit for the first quarter, helping its shares record a modest gain while shares elsewhere in the market tumbled, traders said. Egypt's benchmark EFG 30 index fell 240.12 points, or 4.1 percent, to end at 5,628.53 points, reflecting weakness in other world markets and extending a recent correction. "The whole market is correcting. The whole world is correcting, said Ashraf Akhnoukh at CIBC Brokerage, adding that Telecom Egypt was a bright spot. "The eye catching stock was Telecom Egypt, he said, adding that the 72 percent rise in first quarter profits over a year ago were better than expected and not the result of any one-off items. Bucking the overall market's downward trend, shares in Egypt's fixed-line monopoly edged up LE 0.12 ($0.02), or 0.7 percent, to end at LE 17.13.
