[2008-01-09]  Egypt bourse slightly up, Talaat Mustafa leads
Egyptian shares rose on Tuesday for the seventh consecutive session, as Talaat Mustafa Group led real estate stocks up on Arab and foreign buying, brokers said.
Talaat Mustafa, which was the most heavily traded by turnover, surged 4.6 percent to last trade at 12.58 Egyptian pounds ($2.30), the highest since Dec. 10.
"The market expects very strong results for the last quarter of 2007," said Islam Abdel Aty of Al Shorouk Brokerage.
Abdel Aty added that the stock has been moving sideways for a month after its IPO late in November.
"But it is coming back as its price is still attractive and below its fair value," he said.
Brokers said other real estate stocks were also in the green after the recent rises in local prices of steel and fuel oil, which they said could push up prices for houses.
"This is boosting the sector as a whole," Abdel Aty said.
Heliopolis Housing, Egypt's largest listed real estate firm by market value, gained 3.8 percent to 600 ponds, while Medinet Nasr Housing rose 4.1 percent to 73.75 pounds. Alexandria Real Estate Investment, which is an affiliate of Talaat Mustafa, jumped 5.4 percent to last trade at 465 pounds.
Shares in the Commercial International Bank (CIB), also rose 1 percent in heavy trading to 93.80 pounds, after reaching a record high of 94.76 pounds during the session.
Overall, the benchmark Case 30 index was 0.5 percent up to a new closing high of 10,977.24 points, while the well-watched Hermes index added 0.6 percent also to a closing high of 96,871.18 points.
But the broader CIBC-100 index reflected a mixed big caps performance and was nearly flat at 428.34 points
"We saw profit-taking on some blue chips today after the long rally they had lately," Abdel Aty said.
The country's fixed line monopoly Telecom Egypt last traded 0.4 percent down at 22.61 pounds and Ezz Steel lost 0.1 percent to 73.08 pounds after gaining 16 percent since Dec. 27.
The steel producer said last week it acquired a licence to build a new factory in Egypt and that it intends to issue bonds worth 1.1 billion pounds. ($1 = 5.48 Egyptian pounds)
Source: © Guardian News and Media Limited 2008