CAIRO: Stocks slipped in low-volume trade on Sunday and brokers said investors would be watching a big investment conference in Cairo this week for clues to the future of the economy. The main indexes fell between 0.4 and 0.6 percent but volume was well below average at LE 461 million ($80.3 million). Appetite is very low, one broker said. Around the end of the session, tobacco monopoly Eastern Company said it made net after-tax profit of LE 508.1 million in its 2005-2006 financial year, 12 percent up on the previous year. The years end on June 30. Hashem Ghoneim of El Nour Securities said the results were in the range expected and would not make much difference to the share price. The shares had closed at LE 300, 5.3 percent up on only three small trades during the whole session. As on many days, investment bank EFG-Hermes set the tone for the market as a whole, accounting for about a quarter of the day s total volume. The shares closed 1.3 percent down at LE 41.10. The market was quiet on the down side, with not much going on. People are waiting for the Euromoney Conference. They want to see how foreigners see things and see what the prime minister has to say, said Ghoneim. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali and Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieddin are speaking on the first day of the two-day conference. The widely watched Case 30 index ended the session down 0.5 percent at 5,997.63 points. The benchmark Hermes index finished 0.6 percent down at 52,654.94 while the broader CIBC index dipped 0.4 percent to 236.13 points. Reuters
Stocks slip in low-volume trade
