CAIRO: Shares in Egyptian real estate developer Talaat Moustafa ended 14.5 percent lower on Thursday after the firm s former chairman was sentenced to death for murder, driving the benchmark index lower. Talaat Moustafa shares last traded at LE 4.30 ($0.76), still well above a year low of LE 2.52 pounds set in March, as retail investors sold in a panic, traders said. The main index lost 4.68 percent to 5,699.52 points. It is because market sentiment is more prevalent than fundamentals, Wafik Daoud of Naeem Brokerage said of the share price move. Moustafa, also a prominent ruling party politician, was sentenced to death on Thursday in a Cairo court for the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim. Moustafa, former chairman of the Talaat Moustafa Group and a prominent ruling party politician, had been accused of paying security man Mohsen Al-Sukkari $2 million to stab Tamim to death at her home in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on July 28. CI Capital Research on Thursday reiterated a strong buy recommendation on the firm, Egypt s largest listed real estate developer by market value, with a target price of LE 11.5 pounds. Other big cap shares followed Talaat Moustafa lower. Heavyweight Orascom Construction Industries lost 4.71 percent to LE 200.03, and fellow developer Palm Hills dropped 7.32 percent to LE 11.39. Ezz Steel shed 7.67 percent to LE 10.83, and investment bank EFG-Hermes lost 9.13 percent to LE 21.40.
