Egypt s index down 1.2 pct, OT slides Egypt s benchmark index closed 1.2 percent down, dragged by heavyweight Orascom Telecom (OT) which slid 1.7 percent as investors cashed in gains after shares rallied in the previous six sessions. Traders said the index was undergoing a correction but a rebound is expected within the week. The market has been heavily impacted by OT, which had been climbing over the past week on speculation it will sell its Algerian unit. This is just a minor dip and it will trigger some buying in the coming session, Ashraf Akhnoukh of CIBC Brokerage said. We have been talking about one day of profit taking, this is it, Teymour El-Derini said, adding we don t think the market will be hit any more than what it is at right now. OT told the stock exchange on Tuesday it has no significant event to disclose in response to the rumors. OT s Algerian unit Djezzy said on Sunday it paid the final installment of a tax bill it disputes with Algerian authorities. Talaat Mostafa was down 1.7 percent while Ezz Steel slid 2.4 percent. Bucking the downward trend were Pioneers Holding, which is up 3.8 percent, and Egyptian Housing and Development, which rose 8.3 percent. It (Egyptian Housing and Development) is a very speculative stock, said Karim Hosny of Pharos Securities. It was hit hard in the last couple of weeks and this is probably just a rebound. The EGX30 closed at 7,428 points. -Reuters GB Auto agrees to sell Yokohama tires in Egypt Egyptian vehicle maker GB Auto, which is tripling production in Egypt, has agreed to represent Japanese tire maker Yokohama in Egypt, it said in a statement on Monday. Egypt s automotive sector was hit in 2009 by the global downturn, but demand has begun to pick up, helped in part by a government plan to offer inexpensive cars to taxi drivers to replace old models. Car sales are seen rising 25 percent year-on-year to 200,000 in 2010. GB Auto s share of Egypt s passenger car market will be 27 percent to 30 percent, it said last month. Under the agreement, GB auto will distribute Yokohama tires for passenger cars, semi-trucks, trucks, buses and construction equipment. The addition of the Yokohama representation should see the tires line of business post revenues in the LE 240 million range this fiscal year, the statement cited Chief Executive Officer Raouf Ghabbour as saying. GB Auto recorded sales revenues of more than LE 60 million in Lassa tires in the full-year 2009, he added. The company, Egypt s biggest listed automobile assembler, said two weeks ago it will boost car production capacity to 90,000 vehicles by mid-2010 from 30,000 in 2009 to meet growing domestic demand. GB Auto says it expects to double its net profit this year from LE 201.4 million ($310.7 million) in 2009. -Reuters Egypt s TMG says Q1 2010 unit sales LE 1.2 bln Egyptian developer Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG) said on Tuesday it sold LE1.2 billion ($217.6 million) worth of real estate units in the first quarter of 2010, up 172 percent on a year earlier. TMG, Egypt s largest listed developer, sold LE 436 million worth of units in the first quarter of 2009, it said in a statement. Shares in the firm closed down 0.7 percent, while the main index .EGX30 fell 1.2 percent. -Reuters Orascom has no major news in reply to talk-bourse Egypt s Orascom Telecom (OT) has told the stock exchange it has no significant event to disclose in response to rumors in the past week about a possible merger or unit sale, the bourse head said on Tuesday. Shares in Orascom had jumped sharply last week and in the first two sessions this week, fuelled by speculation it was in the process of offloading its Algerian unit Djezzy. Another rumor suggested Orascom might merge with another telecom firm. Orascom has been in a row with Algeria over back taxes but said this week it had paid the last installment. It has also been in dispute with France Telecom over ownership of Egyptian mobile firm Mobinil. There isn t any significant event for OT (to disclose) other than that they paid the taxes and that they are indirectly affected positively by the rejection of the court of selling Mobinil to France Telecom, stock exchange chairman Maged Shawky told Reuters, commenting on Orascom s response to a query. He said he was satisfied with the statement and would not be taking further action. We did request clear disclosure from the OT side and they disclosed yesterday before the trading session about their tax commitment in Algeria and continued with a reply about the rumors that are going around, he added. Orascom s statement, published by the exchange, had said it did not comment on rumors and was committed to the principle of transparency and the rules of disclosure. We have nothing more to do regarding this issue, Shawky said, adding that Orascom s response had been prompt. Egypt s Banque Misr looking at investing in Sudan State-owned Banque Misr, Egypt s second-biggest commercial bank by assets, is looking into expanding in Sudan, opening another market in the black continent, its chairman told Reuters on Monday. Sudan, Africa s largest country, has attracted Gulf and other Arab countries to invest in a range of projects, mostly in agriculture. We are currently studying our presence in Sudan, either in its north or south, Chairman Mohamed Barakat told Reuters on the sidelines of an investment conference. Despite being one of the world s poorest regions, Sudan s southern economy has been turned on its head since the end of a 22-year civil war in 2005. A flood of foreign aid workers and more than $2 billion a year in oil revenues under a peace deal with the central government in Khartoum have transformed the south into one of the most expensive corners of Africa. Sudan is a country that has huge investment potential, and we are looking at either opening a branch in Sudan or acquiring a bank there, Barakat said. Banque Misr had assets of LE 153.8 billion as of June 2008 and loans of LE 59.90 billion. -Reuters
