CAIRO: Ezz Steel, Egypt s largest steel maker by sales, gained for the sixth time in seven sessions on Wednesday, lifting Egypt s index, as investors scrambled for its dividend. Ezz, the best performer on the benchmark CASE 30 index in the past five sessions, rose 3.33 percent to LE 11.48 ($2.08). The company has said it would pay a LE 2 dividend to shareholders on Dec. 15. Shares of the firm have jumped 13 percent in the five sessions to Tuesday. People are buying because of the dividend, said Teymour El-Derini, trader at Beltone Financial. Ezz helped lift the CASE 30 index 1.07 percent to 3,979.71 points. The index has shed 60 percent this year. Mobinil, Egypt s largest mobile operator by subscribers, rose 2.8 percent to LE 119.50 after the company said it had 20 million subscribers. They are the fastest growing telecom company in Egypt, Derini said. Shares of Maridive & Oil Services rose 3 percent to $2.40 after the company posted a 31 percent rise in its nine-month net profit. The stock hit as high as $2.79 during the session and was suspended temporarily for moving more than 10 percent. Maridive said it won contracts this year at higher prices than last year. It sold shares to the public earlier this year. The results were good and people are reacting, Derini said. The Hermes index rose 1.05 percent to 379.40 points and the broader CIBC index fell 1.45 percent to 265.6 points.
