Egypt's stocks near 6-month high on optimistic investors

Egyptian stocks continue their upturn for the second consecutive session on Tuesday as the main index hits a nearly six-month high, recording 5,645 points. “There is wide positive sentiment among investors, foreigners in particular, that the Egyptian stock market seems to be stable, despite Islamist protests in the streets,” said Mostafa Badra, a Cairo-based market expert. The EGX30 rose slightly by 0.12 percent in a session which saw a significant daily turnover of the listed securities, worth some LE350 million (roughly $50 million). The broader index EGX70 rose 2.7 percent. “Enormous participation and the attractive prices of the small-scale shares listed in EGX70 have bolstered the index performance,” Badra told Ahram Online. The bellwether stock Commercial International Bank dipped 2.1 percent due to the profit-taking process by foreign investors who were net-sellers, with some LE28 million (roughly $4 million) in sales. Egyptians were net-buyers with some LE32 million (roughly $4.5 million). Telecom Egypt also declined 1.5 percent, as the company recently has been seeing several rumors spreading over its licence to operate the soon-to-be fourth domestic mobile services network. On Monday the company denied that it would sell its 45 percent stake in Vodafone Egypt in order to obtain the new operating licence. Property shares all went up, led by Talaat Mostafa Group (1.7 percent), Palm Hills (0.8 percent) and Six of October Development and Investment (3 percent). The heavyweight stock Orascom Telecom saw a modest rise of 0.8 percent.