CAIRO: Main Egyptian stocks dropped on Monday with market mainstay Orascom Telecom leading the way down a day after reporting full-year results in line with market expectations. The results were already priced in the market, said Ahmed El-Hifnauy of investment bank EFG-Hermes. Orascom Telecom, headed by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, reported an 8 percent rise in net income to $719 million on Sunday and said the number of subscribers has exceeded 51 million, up 70 percent from 2005. Shares in the firm closed 1.6 percent lower at LE 385 ($67.54) a share. Another reason for the decline is that some investors do not like the company s move on Brazil. They don t understand it yet, Hefnauy said. Orascom Telecom expressed interest this month in buying a stake in Brasil Telecom held by Telecom Italia. Shares in Al Watany Bank skidded 1.5 percent to close at 42.50 pounds a share. The bank said it has been approached by an unspecified number of regional banks seeking to acquire a controlling stake, a move that had sent the shares up 14 percent on Sunday. Egypt s financial daily Al Alam Al Yom said on Monday a Saudi and a Kuwait bank were vying for the deal. The stock rallied aggressively on the rumors of the bids but now that the news is already out, the market is settled, said Mohamed Radwan of Delta Securities. Watany Bank said on Monday its 2006 net profit rose 59 percent to 94.7 million pounds but Radwan said the market was mainly reacting to the takeover news. Bucking the downward trend was real estate firm Egyptian Resorts, which rose 2.5 percent to close at LE 22. Traders have said the construction and real estate stocks were expected to benefit from a government decision to slap duties on exports of cement and steel. The benchmark Hermes index closed 0.9 percent down at 62,709.43 points. The widely watched Case 30 index dipped one percent to 7,151.16 points while the broader CIBC index closed 0.2 percent higher at 302.60 points.
