[2008-04-11]  Big caps pull Egypt bourse down, foreigners sell
Blue chips weighed on Egyptian indexes on Thursday as global markets plummeted on renewed credit concerns, but the textile sector kept up its momentum for a second day on local buying, brokers said.
Shares in index heavyweights Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) and Orascom Telecom (OT) fell with their global depository receipts in London, said Hashem Ghoneim, CEO of el-Nour Securities.
OCI lost 2.2 percent to last trade at 415 Egyptian pounds ($76.29) while OT was 1 percent down at 78.17 pounds.
Internationally, stocks fell broadly and the dollar and sterling hit record lows against the euro on Thursday as fresh concerns about the health of the banking sector and the broader economy jolted financial markets.
Foreigners were Thursday's only net sellers, accounting for 15.4 percent of selling value, according to stock exchange data.
Shares in Commercial International Bank were also in the red, last trading 1.6 percent lower at 87.49 pounds, while investment bank EFG-Hermes lost 1.2 percent to last trade at 55.46 pounds.
Overall, the benchmark CASE 30 index inched down 0.3 percent to 11,632.22 points, while the widely watched Hermes index closed 0.1 percent down at 101,231.8 points.
But small caps, led by heavily traded textile stocks, boosted the broader CIBC 100 index 1 percent up to a record closing high of 573.32 points, brokers said.
Arabia Cotton Ginning rose 5.7 percent to last trade at 13.90 pounds.
HC Securities said on Wednesday it was advising medium term investors to maintain remaining portions of their current long positions after reducing a 25 percent portion at a first target of 13.50 pounds for Arabi Cotton Ginning's shares.
"We expect the share price to continue trending on the upside to reach our second and third target projections of 15.25 pounds and 17 pounds consecutively," the brokerage said.
Other textiles also rose, with Arab Polavara gaining 0.4 percent to 14.15 pounds and Nile Cotton Ginning rising 6 percent to 39.70 pounds.
"These are exaggerated prices, maybe because there is a lot of liquidity in the market," Ghoneim said.
Source: © Guardian News and Media Limited 2008