CAIRO: Foreign investors sold Egyptian blue chips on Tuesday a day after a Fitch report downgraded the outlook for the local economy, pulling down main indexes to their second straight session of losses, brokers said. "Foreigners were exiting the components of the benchmark CASE 30 index. Selling became aggressive in the last 30 minutes of the session, said Amr Alaa of Prime Securities. The CASE 30 index fell 3.27 percent to close at 7,964.93 points with foreigners the only net sellers on the day, accounting for 27.7 percent of selling value, according to stock exchange data. "The Fitch report had a very negative impact on the market especially Talaat Moustafa, Orascom Construction Industries and Orascom Telecom, one broker said. Real estate developer Talaat Moustafa dropped 7.67 percent in heavy trading to last trade at LE 6.50 ($1.21). Orascom Construction Industries lost 5.69 percent to LE 303.88, while the other market heavyweight Orascom Telecom fell 3.39 percent to LE 52.18. Ratings agency Fitch lowered Egypt's ratings outlook to stable from positive and cut the country's local currency debt rating to BBB- from BBB on Monday, citing the risk to inflation from rising food and fuel prices. Another Fitch report on Tuesday downgrading Commercial International Bank (CIB) weighed on the shares of Egypt's largest listed bank, brokers said. Shares in CIB last traded 4.58 percent lower at LE 45.80. The widely watched Hermes index slipped 3.1 percent to close at 701.57 points, and the broader CIBC index lost 2.67 percent to 386.28 points.
