CAIRO: Orascom Construction Industries helped Egypt's benchmark index CASE 30 close lower for a second straight session on Tuesday, following drops in foreign markets, traders said. "The sharp drops in the US and Europe yesterday increased bad sentiment in the market, and yesterday's close was very bad, so there were expectations there would be a sharp drop, said Mohamed Tawfiq of Delta Rasmala Securities. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, took the heaviest toll on the benchmark CASE 30 index, last trading 4.18 percent down at LE 119.40 per share ($22). Real estate also hit the indexes, with Sixth October Development and Investment losing 3.04 percent to LE 41.53. Talaat Moustafa Group, Egypt's largest real estate developer by market value, lost 0.32 percent to LE 3.10 per share. But local institutional investors stepped in to take advantage of declining prices later in the day, helping the index to pare some early session losses. "Clearly there are still people on the sidelines that have cash that are waiting for pull backs to go in. When the prices dropped, some buying appeared, said Hashem Ghoneim of El Nour Securities. Institutions made up over 41 percent of all trading on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data. Shares in investment bank EFG-Hermes last traded 5.92 percent higher at LE 17, while Commercial International Bank last traded 2.7 higher at LE 29.70 per share. Mobinil saw its shares gain 7.76 percent to LE 125 per share. The company said this week it had more than 20 million subscribers. The CASE 30 index closed 2.11 percent lower at 3,939.66 points, while the Hermes index closed 1.81 percent lower at 375.46 points. The broader CIBC 100 index closed 2.67 percent lower at 262.3 points. The CASE30 had risen four of the five sessions last week. -Reuters
