CAIRO: Purchases by Egyptian investors were not enough to prevent Egyptian stocks from sharply declining in Thursday morning trading, due to foreign sales caused by anxiety over a million-man demonstration planned for Friday. The main index, the EGX 30 declined by 0.90 percent, while the EGX 20, EGX 70, and EGX 100 decreased by 0.63 percent, 0.68 percent, and 0.70 percent, respectively. Shares declining included Mobinil by 0.54 percent, International Commercial Bank by 2.7 percent, Palm Hills by 1.6 percent, Orascom Telecom by 0.96 percent, Upper Egypt General Contracting by 1.6 percent, Ezz Steel by 1.2 percent, and Orascom Construction by 0.68 percent. The demonstration will protest constitutional principles drafted by Deputy Prime Minister Ali el-Selmy. It will also call for the military to handover authority to civilians.
