CAIRO: Egypt s main stock indexes fell for a fourth straight day on Thursday, with foreign investors selling heavily on fears of a further global economic slowdown, brokers said. We re all waiting to see what ll happen with the Federal Reserve bailout package in the United States, and all eyes are on America now. If things improve abroad, things will start to stabilize here, said Hashem Ghoniem of El Nour Securities. World stocks inched lower and the dollar fell broadly on Thursday, with Washington in negotiations on a $700 billion bailout to tackle the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Foreign investors, who accounted for almost 50 percent of the day s transactions, were again net sellers of Egyptian shares by more than LE 180 million ($33.02 million), causing the indexes to dip. The benchmark CASE 30 fell 0.07 percent to 6,945.37 points after hitting a low of 6818.66 points earlier in the session, while the Hermes index lost 0.28 percent to 623.02 points. The broader CIBC index was 1.15 percent lower at 361.58 points. Shares in investment bank EFG-Hermes lost 0.93 percent to last trade at LE 33.13, while Egyptian Resorts Company slipped 2.1 percent to LE 2.80. But some shares managed to buck the downward trend, breaking the market s slide somewhat. Market heavyweight Orascom Construction Industries saw its shares gain 0.11 percent to LE 311 per share, a day after the company said it had signed an agreement with Japanese manufacturer Babcock-Hitachi to design and build steam-powered electricity generators. Egypt Aluminum, which approved a cash dividend of LE 4.50 on Thursday, gained 5.68 percent to last trade at LE 48.35.
