CAIRO: Egypt s main indexes dipped on Wednesday after scoring fresh closing highs for three consecutive sessions, led by profit-taking in heavyweight Orascom Construction Industries, traders said. Despite good news coming on OCI s new airport deals, people chose to offload the stock among other market leaders. They got worried that the market reached the ceiling of its rally, said Sarah Tolba of Delta Securities. Orascom Construction won two contracts worth $127 million on Tuesday from the Egyptian government to upgrade and expand Borg Al Arab Airport and to build an air traffic control tower at Cairo International Airport. But the company s shares dropped 4.8 percent to close at LE 415.99. Orascom Telecom, another market heavyweight, also lost 2.9 percent to end at LE 76.59, while shares in the investment bank EFG-Hermes declined 1.9 percent to LE 48.07. Essam Khalifa of the National Fund Management Company said the selling of these stocks was led by institutions and foreign investors. Sixth of October Development Investment Company (SODIC), continuing to rally, climbed 5.5 percent to close at LE 163.80 a share. Investors were enthusiastic about SODIC in light of the deal with Citadel Capital, Tolba said. SODIC sold a shopping mall project near Cairo for $52.7 million to Bonyan Trade and Development, which is partly owned by investment firm Citadel Capital. Shares in Orascom Hotels and Development (OHD) also rose after the firm said it had sealed a deal to acquire land for budget Housing southwest of Cairo. Shares in the firm gained 4.7 percent to close at LE 67.45. Overall the CASE30 index lost 1.5 percent to close at 8,371.88 points, while the benchmark Hermes index dipped 1.6 percent to close at 73,791.39 points. The broader CIBC index dipped 0.4 percent to 339.80 points.
