Egyptian military soldiers inspect the scene near a destroyed bus, after a suicide attacker hit his explosive-laden car into the bus at the road between the border town of Rafah and the coastal city of Al-Arish, Egypt (Photo: Official Facebook page of Egyptian military spokesman of the armed forces)
The Egyptian stock market rose on Wednesday as investors –mainly domestic –seemed unperturbed by the morning's deadly suicide attack on Egyptian soldiers in Sinai.
Eleven soldiers were killed and 37 injured when a bomb-laden car drove into a military convoy in north Sinai. The attack is the bloodiest since mid-August when gunmen killed 25 police conscripts in an ambush on a security convoy in Rafah.
The main EGX30 index rose 1.4 percent to reach 6,497 points, despite net sales of Arab and foreigner investors worth LE10.6 million and LE7.1 million respectively.
Egyptians ended Wednesday as net buyers of some LE17.8 million.
“Investors now are getting used to seeing these [violent] scenes because they know that the government combats terrorism,” commented Eissa Fathy, the vice head of the securities division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce.
Fathy told Ahram Online that investors were more interested in the scene of Egyptian fans at the stadium on Tuesday supporting the national team in its face off against Ghana.
The market’s heavyweight shares Commercial International Bank (CIB) and Global Telecom (GT) increased by 1 and 1.2 percent respectively.
Real estate developers rose as well, led by Talaat Mustafa Group (TMG), Palm Hills Development (PHD) and Six of October Development and Investment (SODIC), soaring 3, 4.6 and 0.04 percent respectively.
The broader EGX70 index slipped by 0.05 percent in Wednesday's session. Individuals were net sellers in a session that saw turnover of listed securities worth LE751.7 million.
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