CAIRO: Stocks trended downwards in mixed trade on Sunday in a session truncated to three hours because of Ramadan. The two main indexes fell about 1 percent, dragged down by heavily traded investment bank EFG-Hermes, which ended 2.2 percent off at LE 41.50 ($7.23). A stock exchange statement said an EFG-Hermes subsidiary had obtained a license to start online trading with effect from Sept. 21. Company officials were not immediately available to elaborate on the online project. Mobile phone Mobinil gained 5.3 percent to LE 160 as a side-effect of market interest in rival operator Vodafone Egypt, which is the target of an offer from Telecom Egypt to buy 24.4 percent of the company. Vodafone itself ended 0.4 percent up at LE 98.10, just shy of the LE 100 which Telecom Egypt is offering. Brokers said investors were surprised that no one has published a formal response to the government s offer to sell 50 percent of Alexandria Mineral Oils Company (AMOC), announced 10 days ago. AMOC last traded 1.5 percent down at LE 88. People are in two minds on AMOC because of the uncertainty, said Yasser Hassanein of Dynamic Securities. The Hermes index ended 0.9 percent lower at 55,745.76 points and the Case 30 index was 1.1 percent lower at 6,297.95 points. But the broader CIBC-100 index rose 0.4 percent to 258.54 points. For the rest of Ramadan, the market will be open for trading only between 10.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. (08:30 and 11:30 GMT), instead of 11.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. (09:30 to 13:30 GMT). Reuters
Stocks trend down at start of Ramadan
