Egyptian stocks rebound

CAIRO: Egyptian stocks bounced back from recent dips on Tuesday with the real estate sector and related building and construction stocks boosted by foreign investors, traders said. Traders said six of the most heavily-traded stocks in the session were related to the real estate sector, including cement stocks, bucking a recent downward trend in the market. The market has rebounded, said Bassim Arida of CIBC Brokerage. In particular, foreign investors are starting to look at the real estate sector and its potential for growth. Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) rose by 1.6 percent to LE 275.05. The stock had dipped since Sunday due to a fall-out from a recent decline in global markets. Medinet Nasr Housing also rose 1.7 percent to close at LE 142.50. Traders said there was positive sentiment over the construction sector after a recent government decision to impose duties on cement and steel had sent domestic prices lower. In the cement sector, Sinai Cement rose 0.5 percent in the session to LE 56.01, after it reported a 58 percent increase in 2006 net profit on Monday to LE 286.9. Other stocks in the cement sector did not fare as well, with Misr Cement Qena falling 0.6 percent to LE 81 after Portugal s Cimpor said it had failed in its bid to acquire the cement company. Asec Cement said it had bought a 9.9 percent stake in Misr Cement Qena on the open market. The benchmark Hermes index closed up 0.6 percent to 61,452.43. The widely-watched Case 30 index rose 0.7 percent to 6,974.38 points and the broader CIBC-100 index ended 0.7 percent higher at 288.85 points.