Property developers led Egypt's main index to a new four-month high after a state-appointed legal committee outlined a solution to a dispute over the land used by Talaat Moustafa for its Madinaty project. The benchmark index climbed 0.7 percent to close at 6,720 points, its highest since May 19. An Egyptian court had earlier ruled that the government must scrap the contract under which TMG bought its Madinaty land. On Wednesday, however, the committee said that the government could simply repossess the land and reallocate it back to TMG. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif indicated on Thursday that the government would follow the committee's recommendation. TMG climbed 1.4 percent. Palm Hills, which also faces a legal challenge over some of its land, surged 6.6 percent. Last week an engineer said he had raised a suit against Palms Hills, and on Wednesday an administrative court set Oct. 26 for the start of the trial over the land. Traders said the market had overreacted to the announcements. "The news from Palm Hills only affects 0.5 percent of their investments," Omar Darwish of CIBC said. "So when the TMG issue is close to being finalized, Palm Hills would be the best bet for investors," he added. "The stock got smashed around 12 percent when the news came out."
