Egypt will not tax capital revenues of local stocks, an official was quoted by the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) on Tuesday. "News about taxing stock profits is untrue. I phoned the Finance Minister and he said the Government had no plans for such a move," Mohamed Abdel Salam told reporters in New York. He said such incorrect press reports pulled Egypt's main index down "for the first time in 15 days". Egyptian stocks fell on Tuesday for the second day in a row on foreign selling, traders said. The country's benchmark index EGX 30 shed 0.82 per cent to 5,290.11 points. The broader indexes EGX 70 and EGX 100 were also in the red, slipping by 1.47 and 1.04 per cent to 639.6 and 979.27 points respectively. Locals made net purchases worth LE75.5 million ($12.7 million), while Arabs and non-Arabs made net sell-offs worth LE3.4 million and LE72 million, according to Bourse data. Volume totalled LE728 million, according to the Egyptian Exchange. Egypt's heavyweight Commercial International Bank (CIB) gained 0.26 per cent to LE30.52 per share. EFG-Hermes, the country's biggest investment bank by market value, rose by 1.33 per cent to LE19.79 per share. Talaat Moustafa, the country's biggest listed builder, plunged by 1.41 per cent to LE4.2 per share. Orascom Construction Industries added 0.51 per cent to LE255 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, fell by 3.6 per cent LE4.28 per share. Mobinil rose by 1.04 per cent to LE141.79 per share.
