CAIRO - A profit-taking mood pulled Egypt's main index down Monday, traders said. The country's benchmark index EGX 30 shed 1.17 per cent to 5,493.83 points, they added. The broader indexes EGX 70 and EGX 100 were also in the red, slipping by 0.21 and 0.59 per cent to 605.4 and 956.26 points respectively, according to Bourse data. Commercial International Bank (CIB), Egypt's biggest private bank by assets, announced it would distribute a cash dividend of LE1 per share. The bank said in a statement, carried by Reuters, it would make the payment on April 7. Shares in CIB gained 0.3 per cent to LE33.39. Volume hit LE864 million ($145 million), according to Bourse data. Al Ezz Dekheila Co. for Steel plunged by 5.77 per cent to LE642.52 per share. Talaat Mustafa Group, the country's biggest listed real estate developer, fell by 4.02 per cent o LE4.54 per share. EFG-Hermes, the country's biggest investment bank by market value, fell by 2.49 per cent to LE21.14 per share. Orascom Construction Industries slipped by 0.75 per cent to LE244.31 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, shed 0.67 per cent LE4.42 per share. Globally, solid signs of growth in the world economy and prospects for merger and acquisition (M&A) supported world equities while expectations of higher eurozone interest rates took the euro briefly to an 11-month high against Japan's yen. Investors were generally upbeat about the global economy following solid US jobs data on Friday. World stocks as measured by the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) were up a third of a per cent, flirting with a month high and close to gaining five per cent for the year to date. There were underpinned mainly by emerging stocks, up 0.6 per cent. Japan's Nikkei closed up 0.1 per cent. The euro fell from 11-month highs against the yen and a five-month peak against the dollar. The European Central Bank at its policy meeting on Thursday is expected to raise rates by 25 basis points from a record low in reaction to rising inflationary pressures in the euro zone, with two more 25 basis point hikes factored in by year-end. Bids from Asian central banks and other investors are likely to offer solid support to the euro at $1.4190 against the dollar, with stops through to below $1.4150 also cited by traders.
