CAIRO: Market rallies in the United States and Asia helped Egypt s benchmark CASE 30 stock index jump nearly 5 percent on Tuesday, with investment bank EFG-Hermes soaring 13.51 percent. Shares in Egypt s largest investment bank by market value, which tumbled nearly 80 percent this year to Monday s close, last traded at LE 15.12 ($2.73). The rise helped the CASE 30 index, which plunged to its lowest level since February 2005 on Monday, to close at 3,866.95 points. The rival Hermes index gained 4.48 percent to 366.64 points. This is a psychological rally, said Karim Hosny, a trader at Pharos Securities, adding that there was no fundamental news to boost shares. Asian shares rose on Tuesday after the US government rescued banking giant Citigroup in a bid to prevent further damage to the struggling global financial system. Commercial International Bank, Egypt s biggest privately-owned bank, rose as high as LE 30.13 before trimming its gains to last trade 3.67 percent higher at LE 28. Orascom Telecom, the biggest Arab mobile phone by subscribers gained 6.44 percent to LE 23.30. Hashem Ghoneim, chief executive of El Nour Securities in Cairo, said the market still faced more volatility and could swing back into losses on more bearish economic news from Europe and the United States. The market is volatile and the panic is still there, he said. Yesterday we were down when markets elsewhere were up. Market euphoria after the Citigroup rescue effort has already faded in Europe, giving way to concerns about sharply deteriorating major economies such as China. The World Bank said China s growth could slow to 7.5 percent in 2009, its slowest pace of expansion since 1990, as a result of the intensifying impact of the global financial turmoil. Ghoneim, however, said the Egyptian stock exchange was unlikely to continue falling as sharply as it did over the last three months. We will hit bottom soon if we haven t already hit it and we will go up again, he said. Shares are virtually for free here. They are trading at a P/E (price-to-earnings) ratio of 3 and 4, he added.
