CAIRO: Egyptian stocks trimmed losses to close higher on Thursday, with Telecom Egypt rising on demand from foreign investors and Ezz Dekheila gaining despite a 15 percent drop in 2006 net profit. Major Egyptian stocks skidded around 3 percent on Wednesday on the back of a global market sell-off but the market recovered in Thursday s session, with 51 stocks advancing and 32 declining according to stock exchange data. The market is up nearly a quarter of a percent today as part of a psychological global rebound, said Mohamed Radwan of Delta Securities. Shares in Telecom Egypt, the country s only fixed-line provider, rose 4.2 percent to LE 16.28 a share. Traders said there was strong interest from foreign investors in the stock. People see it as a cheap investment, trading at a price-to-earning ratio of 11, which is good for a telecom share, said Mohamed Kotb of Al Jazira Asset Management. Plus several brokerages have given the shares a fair value between 18 and 19 pounds a share, he said. Shares in Ezz Dekheila rose 3.2 percent to close at LE 1,000 a share. The firm, one of the largest industrial companies in Egypt, said net profit in 2006 stood at LE 2.01 billion pounds, compared to LE 2.38 billion in 2005. The market had the decline priced in, Kotb said. Also there are rumors about the company buying treasury stock, which may have supported the share price. Overall, the benchmark Hermes index ended up 0.26 percent at 63,152.53 points, and the widely watched Case30 index rose 0.25 percent to 7,183.13 points. But the broader CIBC-100 index ended the session 0.6 percent down at 286.27 points.
