CAIRO - Driven by foreign selling, Egyptian stocks took a dive on Thursday for the second day in a row, traders said. Arab and non-Arab investors made net sell-offs worth LE6 million ($1 million) and LE83.1 million respectively, according to Bourse data. Locals made net purchses worth LE89 million. "The Bourse will fine listed companies that do not release their quarterly statements on time," Mohamed Abdel Salam, the Chairman of the Egyptian Exchange, was quoted by the official Middle East News Agency as saying. "We do not favour Palm Hills, Remco and Citadel over disclosure policies," Abdel Salam said, dismissing accusations of reporters at a press briefing in Cairo on Thursday. The country's benchmark index EGX 30 slipped by 0.34 per cent, ending the week at 5,541.64 points. The broader indexes EGX 70 and EGX 100 were also in the red, slipping by 0.09 and 0.2 per cent to 654.53 and 1,011.08 points respectively. Volume exceeded LE684 million, according to Bourse data. Egypt's heavyweight Commercial International Bank (CIB) slipped by 0.48 per cent to LE30.84 per share. EFG-Hermes, the country's biggest investment bank by market value, fell by 1.09 per cent to LE21.68 per share. Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) plunged 1.19 per cent to LE275.45 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, shed 0.48 per cent LE4.14 per share. Egyptian real estate company Amer Group said its unaudited first quarter net profit was 133.9 million Egyptian pounds ($22.5 million), Reuters reported. Amer, a property conglomerate, began trading on the Egyptian Exchange November 30, after a heavily oversubscribed initial public offering. The firm did not provide a figure for the first quarter of 2010 but gave a full 2010 year net profit figure of 557.1 million pounds. Meanwhile, world stocks hit a three-month low, the euro slumped to a one-month trough and top-rated government bonds rose as concerns intensified the lack of a deal on Greek debt might trigger disorderly market moves. Eurozone officials are struggling to agree on how to involve the private sector in a second Greek bailout without triggering a default that would likely destabilize other eurozone weaklings. The MSCI world equity index fell one per cent to hit its lowest level since mid-March. The index has wiped out all the gains made this year to fall one percent since January.
