File Photo: File photo: Workers at Egypt's stock exchange market are seen in the trading hall in Cairo (Photo: AP)
Egypt stocks rose amid low turnover in the first trading session after a national bank holiday on Tuesday, 6 October.
The main EGX30 index rose 1.59 percent to close at 7,355 points as the value of shares traded registered a modest LE394 million.
The World Bank predicted that Egypt’s growth could hover at about 4 percent of GDP in 2015 and 2016 as a result of reinforced security and ongoing reforms, in a Brief released Monday ahead of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings in Lima, Peru.
Egypt's economy is estimated to have grown by 4.2 percent of GDP in the fiscal year that ended in June, according to an opinion piece penned by Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi for the Wall Street Journal last month.
The previous fiscal year’s growth was recorded at only 2.2 percent.
Market bellwether and largest local private sector lender Commercial International Bank (CIB) saw its share price rise 1.81 percent to LE53.48.
Real estate market leader TMG Holding rose 1.34 percent to close at LE6.79, while competitor Palm Hills Development Company saw its share price gain 3.03 percent to reach LE2.04 and Sixth of October Development and Investment (SODIC) rose 2.39 percent to LE8.99 a share.
Landline Monopoly Telecom Egypt saw its share price rise 1.01 percent to LE6.97 while blue chip Edita Food Industries S.A.E. jumped 2.77 percent to LE33 a share.
Local investors were net sellers for LE32.4 million, while non-Arab foreign investors were the main net buyers for LE30.9 million, and Arab investors were net-buyers for LE1.4 million.
Arab investors accounted for just 6.43 percent of trading, Egyptian investors 61.4 percent, and other foreigners 32.2 percent.
The World Bank projected on Monday overall GDP growth for MENA in 2015 at about 2.8 percent, while "low oil prices, conflicts, and the global economic slowdown make short-term prospects of recovery unlikely".
Egypt's foreign currency reserves fell further to reach $16.335 billion in September, down from $18.096 billion in August, the Central Bank of Egypt announced on Wednesday.
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