Egyptian mobile operator Orascom Telecom (OT), working to resolve a dispute with Algerian tax authorities, opened a $800 million rights issue on Sunday, pushing the country's main index EGX 30 up, traders said. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, jumped by 16.61 per cent to LE6.39 per share, they added. OT raised its authorised capital to LE5.24 billion (around $960 million) from LE889 million. Driven by OT rise, the North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 gained 0.9 per cent, ending the day's trading at 6,756.14 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, was flat at 747.62 points. Volume hit LE1 billion, according to the Egyptian Exchange. In a related event, the averag yield on Egyptian 91-day treasury bills rose a fraction to 9.799 per cent at an auction on Sunday, compared with 9.708 per cent at the last week's auction, Reuters reported. The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) accepted bids for bills worth LE2 billion, the same amount it was seeking. It accepted bids at rates between 9.648 and 9.88 per cent, compared with 9.48 and 9.77 per cent at the previous auction. The bills are for issue on February 2 and mature on May 4, 2010. Meanwhile, Bahrain's Ahli United Bank said it has closed the planned increase of its stake in its Egyptian subsidiary to 79.6 per cent from 35.5 per cent for $180 million. "Our additional investment of 985 million Egyptian pounds reflects our confidence in the future economic prospects of Egypt," its chairman, Fahad al-Rajaan, said in a regulatory filing to the Bahrain Stock Exchange. He also has said the bank plans to make investments in corporate and retail banking at its Ahli United Bank Egypt The bank said last August it had won approval from the Bahraini central bank to increase its stakes in its units in Egypt and Iraq.
