CAIRO/DUBAI - Egyptian share led a regional rebound from multi-month lows on Wednesday as global investors took comfort in a US pledge to keep interest rates near zero for two more years. Egypt's share index jumped 4.1 per cent, lifting after three days of sharp declines that took shares to their lowest level since April 2009. "The gain is all a rebound from the drastic fall, simply a correction, especially that Egypt was one of the most to fall in the region," said Omar Darwish, a trader at CIBC Brokerage. "We will see leaps in finance and real estate stocks that were suspended." Egypt's biggest-listed developer, Talaat Moustafa surged 5.4 per cent, Investment bank EFG-Hermes jumped 7.2 per cent and Pioneers Holding closed up 7.1 per cent. Benchmarks in Dubai and Qatar rose from five-month lows, recovering 1.2 and 0.7 per cent respectively. "We have seen a strong correlation in both ways with international markets but the consequences of all this mess should be less important here than in Europe or US," says Sebastien Henin, portfolio manager at the National Investor, an investment management firm in Abu Dhabi. Bellwether Emaar Properties gained 1.5 per cent, and contractor Arabtec climbed 3.1 per cent. In Qatar, Barwa Real Estate closed 2.5 per cent up and Islamic lender Masraf Al Rayan rose 1.8 per cent. Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (TAQA) climbed 4.3 per cent, helping the emirate's index climb 1 percent. TAQA rose as much as 7 per cent intra-day after reporting that second quarter net profit more than doubled, beating analysts' forecasts. "There is strength across the region in names that were hammered in the last few days. It's too early to come back aggressively in the market, except for stock-picking," said Henin. Certain telecoms and petrochemicals stocks are looking attractive at current levels, he added. Saudi shares also mirrored the widespread improvement and closed 0.5 per cent higher. Chemical stocks rose with Yanbu National Petrochemical Co (Yansab) climbing 0.7 per cent, Saudi Arabian Fertilizers Co (Safco) gaining 1.2 per cent and Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) adding 0.5 per cent. The Saudi market was also helped by rising oil prices. Brent crude prices were up on Wednesday, following sharp losses on Tuesday. "We saw an over-reaction for oil price fall," said the National Investor's Henin. "Some of these companies didn't follow oil price when it went up in last six months, so the price correction shouldn't be so sharp - you can accumulate names at these levels." Bucking the regional trend, Omani oil services firm Renaissance Services fell 2.2 per cent, dragging the index 0.6 per cent lower ahead of expected second-quarter earnings. "The negative sentiment continues here, with selling in the services sector from speculators," said Adel Nasr, United Securities brokerage manager. "The main thing we are still worried about is the global market."
