CAIRO: Egyptian stock markets gained ground for a second straight day on Wednesday, as foreign and local investors bought blue chip firms that appear cheap after being pummelled for most of the year, traders said. The benchmark CASE 30 index ended the day 2.43 percent higher at 4,596.49 points, but shed 56.4 percent of its value in 2008, with many of its blue chip firms taking significant hits in the wake of the global financial crisis. It s a cheap market, and the international financial crisis is not directly affecting it... This is pushing investors to return to buying into the Egyptian market, said Mohamed Kotb, director of asset management at Naeem Brokerage. Kotb added that an influx of foreign investors helped the index breach a key resistance level at 4,500 points. Egyptian stocks received a battering this year, as foreign investors withdrew funds needed elsewhere in their portfolios. Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) lost 55.6 percent of its value in the year, while fellow heavyweight Orascom Telecom (OT) fell 67.5 percent. The two firms provided impetus to index gains on the last day of 2008, with OCI gaining 3.7 percent to LE 138.99 ($25.21) and OT adding 1 percent to end at LE 29.70. Commercial International Bank was another notable gainer, up 2.66 percent to LE 37, in what was otherwise a flat market. One trader said it was not unusual for the Egyptian market to receive an end-of-year boost. It is not an indicator that we are going to keep going up, the trader said. We are still the cheapest market in region, but there is still not much appetite. The rival Hermes index .HRMS ended 1.91 percent higher at 427.18 points, while the broader CIBC index was 0.42 percent higher at 285.5 points.
