CAIRO: Egyptian companies with dual listings elsewhere made strong gains on Thursday as global markets rose, boosting the market into positive territory for the second straight day after an extended market holiday. Financial heavyweights led the way, with Commercial International Bank up 6.53 percent to LE 32.63 ($5.90) and EFG-Hermes gaining 4.87 percent to LE 18.30. Along with telecom and infrastructure stock gains, these moves helped push the benchmark CASE 30 2.8 percent higher to close at 4,319.74 points. The rival Hermes index gained 2.12 percent to 406.25 points and the broader CIBC index added 1.51 percent to 282.6 points. Confidence has been regained, especially by local investors in the past couple of days, given the relative stability in global markets, said Ahmed Abu Taleb, a foreign sales trader at Pharos Securities. Most major Asian, European, US and Gulf markets have rallied, or at least steadied, in recent days. Orascom Telecom (OT) surged 5.12 percent to LE 27.74, following a sharp gain on Wednesday, as investors saw potential in the firm s announcement it would begin operations in North Korea next week. After the close of trade the ratings agency Standard & Poor s issued a statement explaining its downgrade of OT on Dec 3. Trade was dominated by local and retail investors, with many Egyptians banking their profits, traders said. Foreigners were net buyers by LE 24.4 million, stock exchange data showed. We are trading at very low P/E (price-to-earnings) multiples, we are reaching very cheap levels, said Mohamed Kotb, director of asset management at Naeem Financial Investment. But being cheap is not enough, we have to see a worldwide rebound in the equity markets to help the local market, he said.
