Egypt stocks rise 0.5% despite Sinai anxieties

Egypt's stocks rebounded on Tuesday from its drop the day earlier following Sunday's Sinai border attack, with the benchmark EGX30 index rising by 0.5 per cent to end the day at 5,049.51 points. A military funeral was held on Tuesday for the 16 Egyptian border guards killed in Sunday's deadly attack near Egypt's border with the besieged Gaza Strip. Individual investors, meanwhile, remained skittish, with the broader-based EGX70 index declining by 0.2 per cent on Tuesday. Foreign investors, for their part, still wary of political instability in Egypt, were net sellers to the tune of LE17 million. Investors have recently been put off by a handful of recent disturbances, including Thursday's clashes at downtown Cairo's Nile City Towers and a series of sectarian flare-ups in the town of Dahshur south of Cairo. Egyptians, meanwhile, represented net buyers on Tuesday, picking up some LE13.3 million in stocks. Heavyweight shares Orascom Construction Industries and Commercial International Bank both suffered from foreign selling, falling by 0.2 and 0.3 per cent respectively. Orascom Telecom, Media and Technology and the Talaat Mostafa Group, for their part, remained unchanged on Tuesday. Orascom Telecom, meanwhile, rose by 4.6 per cent, making it the day's top stock in terms of daily turnover at LE49 million. Property shares Palm Hills and SODIC rose by 0.4 and 0.8 per cent respectively. Of 171 stocks traded on Tuesday, 112 gained and 43 recorded losses in a session that saw LE343.1 million in total daily turnover. (ahram)