Egypt's stocks continue rise as foreign investors increase buyouts
Ahram Online, Wednesday 9 Jul 2014
Both of Egypt's main market indexes were up Wednesday, buoyed by a thumbs up from Fitch ratings agency after last week's fuel hikes and before August's slow-down


Egypt's stocks continued rising for the second consecutive day on the back of a positive international credit appraisal after last Friday's fuel subsidy cuts, and as non-Arab foreign investors increased their buyouts ahead of an August hiatus for international funds.

The benchmark EGX30 index inched up 0.79 percent to 8,495 points Wednesday, while the broader EGX70 index rose 0.14 percent.

Daily stock turnover recorded LE619.4 million.

"The main index was continuing the last sessions' rising trend," Mohamed Metwally, equity trader at Cairo-based Prime Securities, told Ahram Online.

On Tuesday, Egypt's stocks surged as investors reacted to Fitch rating agency praising last week's decision to radically scale back subsidies on fuel as "an important step towards reducing subsidies that contribute to Egypt's substantial fiscal deficit — a key rating weakness."

Non-Arab foreign investors were net buyers to the tune of LE127.5 million.

"Most international funds slow their operations in August to take a vacation, and thus they intensify their buying in July," explained Metwally.

Some 85 stocks were gainers out of 171 traded stocks.

Market bellwether Commercial International Bank (CIB) gained 1.66 percent to close at LE36.42 per share.

Egypt's leading investment bank, EFG-Hermes, dropped 0.53 percent to register LE14.63 per share.

In the real estate sector, Talaat Mustafa Group (TMG) Holding climbed 1.44 percent (reaching LE9.04 per share), Palm Hills Development (PHD) Company gained 1.2 percent (reaching LE4.19 per share) and Six of October for Development and Investment Company (SODIC) inched up 0.13 percent (reaching LE36.71 per share).

Telecom Egypt (TE) and Global Telecom Holding (GTH) increased 0.22 percent to LE13.46 and 0.37 percent to LE5.24 per share respectively.

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