Cairo: The main share indexes fell up to 2.6 percent on Thursday as retail investors adjusted their stock portfolios ahead of the new month, traders said. The sentiment in the market is not that great amongst retail investors, who have sold on a purely sentimental basis ahead of February, said Ahmed El-Hifnauy of EFG-Hermes. Retail accounted for 60 percent of all the trade in the session. Secondly, we re still related to the Saudi market, and this has had an impact. Saudi Arabia s stock index on Wednesday closed below 7,000 points for the first time since Oct. 21, 2004. It fell 2.4 percent to close the week at 6,987.86 points after major Saudi companies reported drops in fourth-quarter profits. EFG-Hermes, a favorite stock amongst retail investors, led the market s downward trend, dropping 5.4 percent to LE 36.50 ($6.40) with nearly 4.5 million shares traded. The investment bank s stock has fallen during the week, despite its statement on Monday that its subsidiary October Property Development Limited had sold 500,000 shares in Sixth of October Development and Investment Company (SODIC), resulting in a capital gain of LE 71 million. Bucking the downward trend was Orascom Telecom (OT) , which rose 0.75 percent to close at LE 386. OT s Chief Financial Officer Aldo Mareuse said on Wednesday the telecoms operator has not ruled out joining the bidding race for Indian mobile phone group Hutchinson Essar.
