[2007-09-21]  Profit-taking sends Egyptian shares down, CIB hit
Profit-taking on blue-chip stocks pushed Egyptian shares down on Thursday, with Commercial International Bank (CIB) and Orascom Construction Industries hardest-hit.

Main indexes had hit all-time highs on Wednesday a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 50 basis points, sparking heavy foreign buying on the Egyptian bourse.

Shares in CIB, one of Egypt's top private banks, skidded 2.4 percent to last trade at 73 Egyptian pounds ($13), while OCI shed 1.2 percent to 450 pounds.

"The rise in CIB and OCI over the past week was a bit impulsive," said Mohamed Kotb of Jazira Asset Management. "So it is natural to have some profit taking today."

Investment bank EFG-Hermes, the most heavily traded stock by turnover, reversed mid-session gains to last trade almost unchanged at 45.60 pounds a share.

The benchmark CASE 30 index shed 0.9 percent to 8,530.23 points. The widely watched Hermes index fell 0.75 percent to 75,346.83 points.

"Today's total volume was about 60 percent of what we had yesterday, which means there are less sellers in the market," Bassim Arida of CIBC brokerage said.

"People could be waiting until this decline is over to get back into the market again." ($1 = 5.61 Egyptian pounds)



Source: © Reuters 2007.