For the fifth day in a row, Egyptian indexes gained on Sunday as non-Arabs were taken by a bullish sentiment, traders said. Big caps pushed the country's main index EGX 30 199 points to an 18-month high at 7,447.92 points, they added. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, boosted the bullish mood by jumping 6.82 per cent to LE6.89 per share. An Egyptian court upheld a ruling barring a France Telecom buyout of Mobinil, Egypt's largest mobile operator by subscribers and the focus of a bitter dispute with co-owner Orascom Telecom. "The 28 pound difference in the price offer violates principles of equality in opportunity for shareholders. Selling at this price is not fair for minority shareholders," the ruling said. The court made a snap decision in January to block regulatory approval of the fourth such bid from France Telecom, a day before it was to proceed, according to Reuters. Around a year ago an arbitration ruling called on the French firm to buy out Orascom Telecom's stake in their jointly held holding company for around LE273 ($49) per share. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, inched up by 3.23 per cent, closing at LE282.3 per share. The benchmark index EGX 30 rose by 2.75 per cent, while the EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, added 1.08 per cent to 751.62 points. Volume hit LE1.8 billion, according to the Egyptian Exchange. Recovering from the previous month's dip, the EGX 30 index rose 2.6 per cent in March, rendering Egypt the third best performing market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, after Saudi and Morocco since the beginning of the year. In a related event, Egyptian developer Palm Hills Developments shareholders bought 95 per cent of the shares on offer in an LE699 million ($127 million) rights issue. Palm Hills plans to use the issue's proceeds to speed up construction and expand into hotels and other sectors, shielding it from home sales volatility, it said. The firm is expected to reopen the rights issue to cover the unsubscribed portion, Egyptian daily al-Mal reported, quoting unnamed sources close to the issue. On Friday, US stocks rose with the Dow surpassing 11,000 for the first time in a year-and-a-half after Chevron's upbeat outlook and wholesale inventories data reinforced bets on an improving economy. The S&P energy sector, up 1.1 per cent, led the market's advance. Chevron Corp climbed 2.4 per cent to $79.50 a day after it said its refining and marketing arm would return to profit in the first quarter. The three major US stock indexes scored a sixth straight week of gains -- a positive run not seen since stocks rebounded from more than 12-year lows in March 2009. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 70.28 points, or 0.64 per cent, to end at 10,997.35. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 7.93 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 1,194.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 17.24 points, or 0.71 per cent, to 2,454.05.
