CAIRO - For the second day in a row, Egypt's main index fell on Wednesday as big caps were in the red, traders said. The country's benchmark index EGX 30 slipped by 0.28 per cent, to 5,507.67 points, they added. But the broader indexes EGX 70 and EGX 100 were in the black, gaining 1.04 and 0.58 per cent to 656.32 and 1,009.33 points respectively. Locals and Arabs made net purchases worth LE132.5 million ($22.2 million) and LE20.6 million respectively, according to Bourse data. Non-Arab investors made net sell-offs worth LE153 million. Volume totalled LE789.4 million, according to Bourse data. Egypt's heavyweight Commercial International Bank (CIB) fell by 1.86 per cent to LE31.12 per share. EFG-Hermes, the country's biggest investment bank by market value, plunged by 1.49 per cent to LE22.45 per share. Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) shed 0.52 per cent to LE266.31 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, was flat at LE4.34 per share. Egyptian private equity firm Citadel Capital swung to a net loss last year after it wrote down the value of underperforming oil and gas assets, according to Reuters. Citadel also said it had not received any direct acquisition offer. Traders had cited market talk on Tuesday that a Dubai-based firm may be eyeing Citadel, which had pushed up the share price. Citadel said it made a consolidated net loss of $241.7 million. It did not give a comparative figure, but last year it reported net profit of $38.6 million. Landline monopoly Telecom Egypt posted a 10 per cent drop in first-quarter net income after anti-government protests hit the economy and led the authorities to suspend some telecom services. But the company said the worst effects of the political turmoil that unseated president Hosni Mubarak were behind it, helping its shares rise 1.4 per cent in a flat market. It made net income of LE892 million ($150 million), down from LE992 million in the same period a year earlier, beating the average forecast of LE689 million from three analysts. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation slipped to 1.284 billion pounds from 1.364 billion, and revenue fell four per cent to LE2.4 billion, it said in a statement. EBITDA as a percentage of sales -- a closely watched measure of profitability -- was 53.5 per cent, well above the analysts' consensus estimate of 45.9 per cent. Telecom companies including Vodafone Egypt were forced to cut their lines during the height of the protests that toppled Mubarak on February 11. Telecom Egypt owns a 45 per cent stake in British operator Vodafone's local unit.
