Traders work at the Egyptian stock exchange in Cairo (Photo: Reuters)
Egypt's bourse opened the trading week in the green, with the main EGX30 index gaining 1.02 percent on Sunday to sit at 5,587 points.
The gains were mainly driven the Arab Cotton Ginning Company (ACGC), whose share price rose 7.8 percent to sit at LE5.12 per share. The share was the most active during the session, recording a turnover of LE55 million
Total turnover of the session reached LE408 million, with 120 shares gaining value and 24 dropping.
Trading on the ACGC shares was suspended for 30 minutes for rising more than 5 percent as per bourse rules.
The company is looking to get regulatory approval to add the activity of "trading in land" to the primary objectives of the company, which will enable it to make use of its outstanding land bank.
"The company has a 60,000 metre square piece of land in Gharbiya governorate, and selling it would boost its profits," Eissa Fathy, vice president of the securities division at Cairo's Chamber of Commerce, told Ahram Online. "That’s why there is interest in the share."
ACGC said last week its net profit for the first half of 2013 rose to LE65 million, 130 percent growth over the same period a year earlier.
Egyptian investors made up 90 percent of the session's total trading, net-buying at LE7.5 million.
Real Estate developer, Palm Hills Development (PHD), was the second most active share, gaining 2.15 percent to close at LE2.38 per share. The company on Sunday approved a LE600 million capital increase, raising its paid up capital to LE2.696 billion.
Citadel Capital, EFG-Hermes and Commercial International Bank gained 1.28 percent, 1.61 percent and 1.02 percent, respectively.
The broader-based EGX70 index also gained 0.89 percent.
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