CAIRO: Egypt's broad EGX 100 index closed 2.07 percent higher on Monday, though down from a surprising surge early in the trading session. Egypt's benchmark EGX 30 index ended up 0.75 percent at 5,251 points, also slipping after rising by 7.6 percent early on Monday. Though both closed on a positive note, overall numbers were not as high as Sunday, during which the stock market rallied to its highest gain in a year. Stocks of 112 companies rose while 66 declined and six remained unchanged, with the construction materials, financial services (excluding banks) and telecommunications sectors making the largest gains of the day at 14 percent, 13 percent and 11 percent, respectively. For the second day, banks and real estate saw significant losses dropping 30 percent and 11 percent, respectively. The top five companies making the most gains included Guezira Hotels and Tourism, Suez Bags, Advanced Pharmaceutical Packaging Co. (APP), South Valley Cement and Alexandria Cement. Meanwhile, Ezz Steel, Palm Hills Development, Cairo Poultry, Suez Canal Bank and International Company for Leasing (Incolease) declined the most. The stock exchange had suspended trade for half an hour on Monday, the fourth day of trade following a seven-week closure caused by political unrest, after the broader EGX 100 jumped 5 percent soon after the market opened, Reuters reported.
