Motivated by local buying, Egyptian indexes rebounded on Thursday, traders said. Volume totalled LE1 billion ($167 million), according to Bourse data. Locals made net purchases worth LE46.3 million ($7.8 million), while Arab and non-Arab investors made net sell-offs worth LE9.5 million and LE36.8 million respectively, according to Bourse data. The country's benchmark index EGX 30 rose by 0.19 per cent, ending the week's trading at 4,996.07 points. The broader indexes EGX 70 and EGX 100 were also in the black, gaining 1.66 and 1.31 per cent to 582.28 and 909.28 points respectively. Mobinil jumped by 3.05 per cent to LE142.15 per share. Egypt's heavyweight Commercial International Bank (CIB) gained 0.73 per cent to LE27.57 per share. EFG-Hermes, the country's biggest investment bank by market value, plunged by 3.06 per cent to LE18.39 per share. Orascom Construction Industries slipped by 1.05 per cent to LE238.7 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, shed 0.24 per cent LE4.12 per share. Talaat Moustafa, the country's biggest listed builder, fell by 0.51 per cent to LE3.88 per share. Investors in Egypt await Mobinil first quarter results due to be released April 27 for the first major indication of how the political unrest that toppled Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak and brought much of the economy to a temporary halt will affect company earnings, according to Reuters. Mobinil is considered one of the exchange's lesser affected companies, since people continued to rely on telephones during most of the unrest, analysts say. However, mobile companies are expected to have lost important roaming fee revenue from tourists, whose numbers have been greatly reduced by the troubles. "First quarter results generally will be important for the market to watch," said Wael Ziada, head of research at EFG-Hermes. "The market is already expecting the recent events to impact first quarter results for most of the companies. Egyptian real estate stocks will also be in the spotlight as probes on how the government distributed land under the ousted government move forward. An Egyptian court will rule soon on whether the sale of state land to Palm Hills Development, the country's second-biggest listed developer, should be scrapped. A judicial panel concluded earlier this month the sale was illegal because it was priced too cheaply and was not publicly auctioned. The judicial body decision has in the past influenced court verdicts. On April 14, real estate firm Egyptian Resorts said the Tourism Development Authority had retracted its approval for selling a land plot allocated for the firm's Sahl Hasheesh resort on the Red Sea.
