For the third day in a row, Egypt's telecom sector pulled the country's market down on Sunday, traders said. Egypt's main index EGX 30 shed 174 points as Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, slided by 5.16 per cent to LE6.8 ($1.2) per share. Telecom Egypt plunged by 4.69 per cent to LE17.47 per share. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 fell by 2.34 per cent, ending the day's trading at 7,277.31 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, added 1.3 per cent to 730.97 points. Volume hit LE841 million, according to the Egyptian Exchange. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, fellby 1.14 per cent, closing at LE267.39 per share. US stocks tumbled on Friday to close out the worst week since January as news of a criminal probe into Goldman Sachs unnerved investors already anxious about the prospects for heavy regulation from Washington. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 158.71 points, or 1.42 per cent, to 11,008.61. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 20.09 points, or 1.66 per cent, to 1,186.69. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 50.73 points, or 2.02 per cent, to 2,461.19. The average yield on Egyptian 91-day Treasury bills was 9.936 per cent at an auction on Sunday, compared with 9.743 percent at last week's auction CBEY. The central bank accepted bids for bills worth LE1 billion ($180 million), the same amount it was seeking, Reuter reported. It accepted bids at rates between 9.8 and 10.019 per cent, compared with 9.501 and 9.952 per cent at the previous auction. The bills are for issue on May 4 and mature on August 3. The average yield on Egyptian 182-day Treasury bills rose to 10.306 per cent at an auction from 10.196 per cent at last week's auction. The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) accepted bids worth LE2 billion, the same amount it was seeking. It accepted bids at rates between 10.101 and 10.351 percent compared to a range of 9.999 to 10.32 percent at the previous auction. The bills are for issue on May 4 and mature on November 2, 2010. Shareholders in Egypt's South Valley Cement approved an LE15 billion ($2.7 billion) capital increase to buy the owner of the Citystars mega-mall in Cairo, the cement firm said yesterday. "In order to acquire Golden Pyramids and its related companies, we will increase our capital from LE5 billion to LE20 billion," Tamer Abdel Rahman, the firm's investor relations director, told Reuters. Golden Pyramids Plaza owns Citystars shopping mall and has other tourism and real estate projects in Egypt. "The goal is to diversify our work, to have investments in real estate and tourism projects," Abdel Rahman said. "We want to enter a new market." Meanwhile, Arafa Holding, Egypt's biggest garment exporter, reported a decline in net profit for the year to end-January of $10.2 million, saying the sluggish economy in its key British and European markets weakened profit. The company recently changed its financial year, making a direct comparison difficult. Arafa said revenue declined 14.5 per cent to $332 million, without providing the earlier figure. For the ten months to end January 2009, Arafa reported profit of $27 million. The firm, which makes and sells garments in Egypt and Europe, said sales were hit by recession and a fall in the value of both the British pound and euro against the dollar.
