Egypt stocks perk up on talk of 'reconciliation'

EGX30 rises 0.6 pct on Monday despite fears on part of local investors of renewed political turbulence on occasion of revolution's upcoming second anniversary Egypt stocks rebounded slightly in Monday trading with foreign investors going on a limited spending spree on news of possible "reconciliation" between the country's post-revolution government and members of the former regime indicted for financial misdealing. On Sunday, Egypt's Public Funds Prosecution told Ahram Online that it was "ready" to settle outstanding cases concerning the alleged pilfering of public funds by a number of Mubarak-era officials. These officials include former finance minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali and former trade minister Rashid Mohamed Rashid. The main EGX30 index rose by 0.6 per cent for the day to reach 5,739 points. The market was helped upwards by two prominent blue chips, Commercial International Bank and Orascom Construction Industries, which rose by 0.5 and 1.8 per cent respectively. Foreign investors ended the day as net buyers, making some LE17 million in purchases. Egyptian investors, meanwhile, were net sellers to the tune of LE24.4 million. State-run daily Al-Ahram has reported that local investors fear renewed demonstrations and political turbulence on the occasion of the Tahrir Square uprising's second anniversary on 25 January. The broader EGX70 index, meanwhile, closed up by 0.2 per cent in Monday's session, which saw a total daily turnover of LE365 million. Most other high-profile shares registered slight losses for the day, led by Orascom Telecom (down 0.4 per cent), Talaat Mostafa Group (down 0.6 per cent) and Ezz Steel (down 0.3 per cent). Shares in high-end property developer SODIC bucked the trend, however, climbing by 0.6 per cent. From Ahramonline