CAIRO - Egypt stocks climbed to the highest level in almost a week, led by Six of October Development & Investment Co., on investor speculation declines in real-estate shares last month were overdone given growth prospects. Six of October, a luxury developer, jumped 7.2 per cent, trimming the drop since trading resumed March 23 after an almost two-month suspension to 16 per cent. Palm Hills Developments SAE, a Cairo-based property company, gained for the first time in 10 trading days. Egypt's EGX 30 Index rose 1.5 per cent to 5,545.55 at 1:26 p.m. in Cairo, the highest intraday level since March 28. The index has lost 1.8 per cent since trading resumed. Dubai's measures fell today and Israel's benchmark index advanced 0.6 per cent. "Real-estate stocks are attractive as they have become extremely discounted," said Ashraf Akhnoukh, senior equity sales trader at Cairo-based Commercial International Brokerage. ''The sector was the worst performer since the market resumed trading.'' The EGX 30's 22 per cent plunge this year has left the index valued at 1.5 times net assets, or book value, compared with about 1.9 times at the end of 2010, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Palm Hills has tumbled 44 percent since trading resumed and Talaat Moustafa Group Holding, Egypt's biggest publicly traded real-estate developer, has slumped 28 per cent. Neither the EGX 30 nor the broader EGX 100 have subindexes, according to data on Bloomberg. Trading in Egypt was halted since the end of January until last month amid protests that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak in February. Amer Group Holding, which develops hotels, malls and restaurants, gained 5.1 per cent today to 1.45 pounds, trimming the drop since the end of January to 22 per cent. Beltone Financial initiated the shares with an ''add" recommendation and a price estimate of 2.8 pounds. "The stock has been over- penalized," Beltone analysts Harshjit Oza and Ahmed Khalil wrote in a note March 31. "The stock offers an attractive risk reward at the current price." Six of October soared to 68 pounds. Palm Hills surged 6.6 per cent, the most since Nov. 7, to 2.75 pounds and Talaat rose 3.8 per cent to 4.7 pounds. In the Persian Gulf, the Bloomberg GCC 200 Index, Abu Dhabi's ADX General Index and Qatar's QE Index gained 0.1 per cent. Oman's MSM30 Index rallied 1 percent, while Bahrain's BB All Share Index fell 0.5 per cent and Kuwait's measure dropped 0.4 per cent. Dubai's DFM General Index retreated 0.1 per cent after earlier rising as much as 1.3 per cent. Saudi Arabia's Tadawul All Share Index was little changed.
