CAIRO: Egypt s main stock index the CASE 30 closed slightly lower on Monday, as a dip in market heavyweight Orascom Construction Industries triggered light retail selling late in the session, dealers said. The benchmark CASE 30 index ended 0.68 percent lower at 5,732.82 points, while the widely watched Hermes index slipped 0.74 percent to 512.55 points. The broader CIBC index dipped 0.32 percent to 297.11 points. In the morning and mid-session, the market was flat and then in the second half we started seeing sell-offs, but in low volumes, said Teymour el-Derini, a trader at Beltone Financial. Shares in Orascom Construction, Egypt s largest listed builder, shed 2.63 percent to LE 241.70, after rising as high as 254.84 in early trade. OCI said on Monday it had secured a five-year loan for $736.5 million, and separately bought back the equivalent of roughly 1.6 million local shares. Financial firms also lost ground, with Commercial International Bank shedding 4.99 percent to LE 32.96 and investment bank EFG-Hermes dipping 3.36 percent to LE 27.02. But investment services firm Al Ahly Development and Investment, which had lost roughly 75 percent of its value since June, gained 12.1 percent to LE 29. Telecoms were mixed, with Mobinil gaining 2.63 percent to LE 103 while regional mobile operator Orascom Telecom shed 4.23 percent to LE 33.02. Telecom Egypt dipped 0.47 percent to LE 12.88. This is a consolidation period, said Mohamed Ebeid from EFG-Hermes. Foreign institutional investors are just waiting on the sidelines until they can see the direction of the market. -Reuters
