Egypt stocks climb on prospect of IMF visit

Egyptian stocks leapt back into the green on Wednesday in the last trading session before the Eid Al-Adha holiday, encouraged by an impending visit from the International Monetary Fund. The benchmark EGX30 climbed 1.63 per cent to close out the week at 5,793 points, more than making up for the previous day's losses. "News about the IMF visit encouraged investors after a recent relative slowdown," Ashraf Abdel-Aziz, head of institutions sales at Arabeya Online Securities, told Ahram Online. An IMF delegation is due to arrive in Cairo on Monday for a visit that may finalise a long-awaited $4.8 billion loan many experts believe is needed to shore up Egypt's economy. From the 178 stocks traded on Wednesday, 139 gained in value and 20 declined. Turnover climbed too, after a recent dip, reaching some LE585.9 million ($96m). But it remains significantly lower than the six-month record is reached in September. "Investors are watching to see what will come up," Abdel-Aziz said. Orascom Telecom Media and Technology led the market in terms of turnover, gaining 5 per cent. Commercial International Bank was close behind, its shares climbing 2 per cent. Fellow blue chips Telecom Egypt and National Societe Generale Bank (NSGB) gained 2.3 and 1.2 per cent, respectively. The broader-based EGX70, charting the performance of lower-cap stocks favoured by Egyptian investors, gained around 1.8 per cent. Egyptians and non-Arab foreigners were net-buyers to the tune of LE7.5 million and LE12 million respectively. Other Arabs sold LE19.5 million more in stocks than they bought. From: Ahram Online