[2007-12-14]  OCI boosts Egypt stock index for second day
Egypt's main stock indexes rose for a second day as shares of Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) extended a rally on foreign buying, brokers said.
"OCI is continuing the rally and taking the whole market up with it," said Teymour el-Derini at Beltone Financial.
Shares of Orascom Construction, Egypt's largest construction firm by market value, rose 4.8 percent to 545 Egyptian pounds, and were the day's most heavily traded shares by value.
Orascom shares had dropped 9 percent in two sessions after it said on Monday it would sell its cement business to Lafarge for 8.8 billion euros, but have jumped after investment bank EFG-Hermes raised its short-term rating on the stock to "buy" from "accumulate" on Wednesday.
Traders said foreigners also bought other blue-chip stocks. Investment bank EFG-Hermes rose 1.3 percent to 59.82 pounds.
Shares of El Sewedy Cables rose 1.7 percent to 116.60 pounds after the company said its newly-established subsidiary Pyramids Industrial Parks had signed a memorandum of understanding with Spain's Concorsi de la Zona Franca to create and develop an Egyptian-Spanish industrial zone.
The company, one of the Middle East's biggest cable manufacturers, said the zone would include residential, commercial and recreational areas, and would be the first of its kind in Egypt.
It did not say the value of the deal.
Telecom stocks also rose, with Orascom Telecom gaining 1.9 percent to 89.99 pounds, Telecom Egypt rising 1.6 percent to 20.51 pounds, and Mobinil shares gaining 1.4 percent to last trade at 203 pounds.
Egypt's benchmark Case 30 index gained 1.9 percent to 10,087.57 points, while the Hermes index rose 1.6 percent to 88,494.01 points and the broader CIBC index rose 0.7 percent to 389.97 points.
Source: © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007