CAIRO: Foreign selling pulled Egyptian share prices to new lows again on Wednesday and the stock exchange said non-Arab foreigners were net sellers by a margin of LE 66 million ($12.3 million). The benchmark Case 30 index lost 2.11 percent to a year low of 7,797.21 points. The broader CIBC index slipped 2.97 percent to 374.79, also a year low. Foreigners are selling. It seems they are not too happy with the economic situation, especially inflation, said Yasser Hassanein of Dynamic Securities. The selling pressure is coming from foreign investors. Local investors then follow the foreigners, added Mohamed Tawfiq of Delta Rasmala Securities. The selling was across the board, with only 19 stocks rising compared with 144 declines. But several big caps bucked the trend after steady falls over recent weeks. Orascom Construction Industries gained 4.18 percent to LE 319.90 and investment bank EFG-Hermes last traded 1.85 percent higher at LE 44.02. Among the hardest hit among the big companies was Ezz Steel, which ended 7.08 percent down at LE 55.89. The shares have fallen this week despite it reporting a 63 percent increase in first-half net profit on Sunday. Hassanein said foreigners had a long-term outlook and did not seem convinced that Egyptian companies could maintain their high profitability over the next two to five years. So are they packing it in now. Some see better potential in the Gulf, in Dubai and Qatar, for example. A lot of Egyptian investors are overbought in shares and they don t have the liquidity to buy at these levels, he added. Rowad Tourism was the biggest gainer of the day, rising 10.19 percent to LE 301 after announcing a plan to buy back up to 4 percent of its issued capital from the market.
