CAIRO: Egypt s two main indexes dipped on Thursday for the second consecutive session as investors harvested the week s earlier gains in blue-chips led by Orascom Construction Industries, traders said. Investors were tempted to collect their money after the record highs witnessed by the market lately. On top of the list of this profit taking wave came Orascom Construction, which led the market up before and now took it down, said Mohamed Choukri of Trust Group for Securities. Shares in Orascom Construction lost 2.2 percent to close at LE 407 per share, while the other CASE30 heavyweight Orascom Telecom fell by 0.8 percent to LE 76.49. Shares in El Sewedy Cables, one of the best performers lately, also plunged 3.8 percent to a closing price of LE 77.50. El Sewedy Cables almost doubled its price in the two previous months, so it was normal to see that kind of selling. It is obviously a market correction which is normal after waves of bullish performances, Choukri said. But the market was not all in the red. Some lagging stocks in the upward wave like Commercial International Bank (CIB) and SODIC benefited from the funds caused by the selling operations, Choukri added. CIB shares rose 1.3 percent to 69.02, while SODIC continued its previous session strong performance gaining 3.6 percent to close at LE 166. SODIC shares were the day s most heavily traded by value. Investment bank EFG-Hermes also made slight gains, rising 0.5 percent to LE 48.49. Overall the CASE30 index lost 0.3 percent to close at 8,345.73 points, while the benchmark Hermes index dipped 0.2 percent to close at 73,625.51 points. The broader CIBC index reflected the fact that advancers outnumbered decliners by 69 to 39 and rose 0.82 percent to 342.58 points.
