[2007-09-27]  Egypt shares rise after IFC report, OCI gains
Egyptian shares rebounded on Wednesday from four days of declines after the International Finance Corp put Egypt at the top of a list of countries that made the most progress in simplifying their business regulation.

Gains in market heavyweight Orascom Construction Industries and Commercial International Bank helped boost indexes, with OCI shares rising 6 percent to 464 Egyptian pounds ($83.01). Shares in CIB gained 1.5 percent to 75 pounds.

"As you know, business in Egypt is good, the whole picture is good ... Of course the report helped," said Teymour el-Derini of Beltone Financial. He added that the report, released on Tuesday, had improved the mood among foreign investors who are already present in the Egyptian market.

Overall, Egypt's benchmark Case 30 index gained 1.4 percent to 8,529.93 points and the well-watched Hermes index rose 1.2 percent to 75,099.66 points. The broader CIBC index edged 0.1 percent lower to 385.01 points.

Foreign investors made up just 26 percent of the day's trade, but accounted for nearly 35 percent of buying, according to the stock exchange.

Shares in big cap Orascom Telecom rose 1.4 percent to end at 72 pounds.

But Egyptian Resorts bucked the upward trend to dip 0.8 percent to 11.93 pounds. Dealers said the declines were due to uncertainty over how much might be paid for the government's 24 percent stake in the firm next month.

Egyptian media have reported a fair value for the firm of 14 or 15 pounds per share, but traders said the market was still wary.

"There seems to be a constant seller at 12 pounds ... So there is a little ambiguity over the price," said Yasser Hassanein of Dynamic Securities. ($1 = 5.59 Egyptian pounds)


Source: © Reuters 2007.