CAIRO: Egyptian stock indexes edged higher on Tuesday, led by market heavyweight Orascom Telecom (OT) despite a flurry of profit taking late in the session, traders said. OT said on Monday its 2008 net profit after minority interest declined 76 percent to $431 million, citing exceptional gains in the previous year for the drop. But the company said that excluding these exceptions, its profit rose 7 percent. I think (OT s) numbers were good. The reaction to the announcement was fine, and it was up today on nice volume, said Hashem Ghoniem of Pyramids Capital. Shares in the company were the most heavily traded by value on Tuesday, and closed 3.61 percent higher at LE 21.81 ($3.87) per share. We started seeing some profit taking for the rally of the past week... at the end of the session, said Mohamed Ashmawy from CIBC Brokerage. Shares in Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), Egypt s largest listed builder, dipped 0.13 percent to last trade at LE 133.20. The company on Monday reported full year net profit of $719.8million, up 230 percent on the previous year. Real estate developer Talaat Moustafa Group gained 5.36 percent to LE 2.95, while developer Palm Hills rose 7.98 percent to LE 8.25. On Monday Palm Hills said it had trebled its net profit for 2008 to LE 658 million. Overall, the benchmark EGX 30 index and the rival Hermes index rose 0.9 percent, to 3,814.93 points and 361.53 points, respectively. The broader EGX 70 index gained 0.81 percent to 467.21 points.
