Bourse drifts lower, telecoms down

CAIRO: The bourse was hit by a second, milder day of profit taking across the board after a two-week rally boosted by gains in the telecom sector, traders said on Wednesday. A lot of selling pressure occurred, especially profit-taking, taking advantage of the rally that took place in the market the past couple of weeks, said Mohamed Radwan of Delta Securities. Telecom Egypt said on Monday it had agreed to increase its stake in Vodafone Egypt by nearly 23.5 percent in a deal valued at LE 5.63 billion, causing telecom stocks to surge and then fall in a wave of profit-taking. However, declines were less pronounced than on Tuesday, when the Case 30 index tumbled 2.4 percent. The effect [of profit-taking] was less today, said Mohamed Kotb of Jazira Asset Management. I think it s coming to an equilibrium point. Telecom Egypt s shares last traded 0.3 percent lower at LE 15.10, while Vodafone Egypt s shares closed 1.8 percent lower at LE 92.02. Shares in MobiNil also fell, closing 3 percent lower at LE 159.01. Retail investor favorite investment bank EFG-Hermes , the day s most heavily traded share by turnover, lost 0.6 percent to last trade at LE 40.38. The benchmark Hermes Index dropped 0.7 percent to close at 55,805.08 points, and the well-watched Case 30 index was 0.8 percent down at 6,292.14 points. The broader CIBC-100 index fell 0.4 percent to 260.36 points.