CAIRO: Egyptian shares jumped on Sunday, with Orascom Telecom climbing more than 4 percent following an announcement it was raising its stake in its Algerian subsidiary, dealers said.
They said retail investors were also in the market in force following the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, and their generally positive sentiment had pushed up favorites EFG-Hermes and Arabia Cotton Ginning. Shares in Orascom Telecom soared 4.4 percent to close at 312.25 Egyptian pounds ($54.49) following news it had signed a deal to raise its stake in its Algerian telecoms subsidiary by 7.91 percent for $399 million. Increasing its stake in Algeria is a positive move. Algeria is a huge market, said Mohamed Radwan of Delta Securities. Orascom Telecom said the move to buy the shares from minority shareholder Emirates International Investment Company would raise its total stake in the Algeria unit to 95.6 percent. Overall, the benchmark Hermes index ended 1.7 percent higher at 58,324.06 points and the well-watched Case 30 index was 2.4 percent higher at 6,567.84 points. The broader CIBC-100 index rose 1.5 percent to 269.76 points. Shares in Arabia Cotton Ginning, the second most heavily traded stock by turnover, rose 6 percent to last trade at 12.90 pounds, while shares in investment bank EFG-Hermes were up 2.1 percent to 43.50 pounds. Both stocks are popular among retail investors, who were responsible for over 80 percent of the day s trade, according to the stock exchange. On the down side, Egypt Kuwaiti Holdings Co dipped 0.8 percent to $2.65 after announcing it planned to increase its capital by 20 percent through a rights issue in a deal valued at over $26 million. The bourse did not say when the rights issue would take place. The firm was to sell new shares at $0.90 per share, less than the current market price but $0.65 higher than the par value of $0.25.
