Stocks edge up in quiet Ramadan

CAIRO: Stocks edged upwards on Thursday in quiet Ramadan trade at the end of the third quarter. Interest in Vodafone Egypt subsided on an announcement that Cairo-based business group Alkan will accept Telecom Egypt s offer to buy its 5 percent stake in Vodafone at 100 pounds a share. The Egyptian press had speculated that Mohamed Nosseir, who is chairman of both Vodafone Egypt and Alkan, might make a counter-offer at a higher price in response to Telecom Egypt s attempt to raise its stake in Vodafone to 49.9 percent. People abandoned any hope of a counter-proposal, said Yasser Hassanein of Dynamic Securities. Vodafone shares worth only LE 38,000 ($6,600) changed hands, down to a low of LE 95.81 a share. Telecom Egypt also slipped, closing 0.2 percent lower at LE 14.98. Alexandria Mineral Oils (AMOC) fell 1.4 percent to LE 86.20 in the absence of any news about interest in buying the 50 percent stake which the government offered two weeks ago. But Sixth of October Development and Investment gained 2.7 percent to LE 122 on bullish sentiment about the housing and construction sector in general, Hassanein said. The Hermes index ended 0.1 percent higher at 57,059.15 points and the well-watched Case 30 index was 0.3 percent up at 6,444.93 points. The broader CIBC-100 index rose 0.1 points to 260.67 points.