CAIRO: Egypt s main stock index climbed 1 percent on Thursday as big caps continued to rise for a second day led by gains in real estate developer Talaat Moustafa. The benchmark CASE 30 index ended at 3,597.56 points, while the rival Hermes index added 0.82 percent to 341.07 points. Talaat Moustafa, the most actively traded share, surged 9.47 percent to LE 2.66 ($0.47). There is a lot of buying going on, especially in big caps, said Hashem Ghoneim of Pyramids Capital. I think we have seen a bottom ... The whole market is very cheap. Mohamed Seddiek of Prime Securities said he believed buyers were starting to pick up Talaat Moustafa as a longer-term investment. The firm s value has plunged 80 percent since January 2008. Maybe fund managers are starting to accumulate, Seddiek said. Big caps were higher more or less across the board, with Ezz Steel gaining 5.04 percent to LE 6.88. Orascom Telecom trudged 1.51 percent higher to LE 19.44 while Orascom Construction Industries rose 1.85 percent to LE 115.88. Shares in appliance maker Olympic Group, however, dropped 0.67 percent to LE 13.31. The stock exchange said on Thursday Olympic Group had bought 1 million shares in a share buyback for LE 13.99 to LE 14 each.
