CAIRO: Egyptian stocks slid on Tuesday as a wave of profit-taking hit Heliopolis Housing, which had helped lift the market over the past two sessions on talk that it was seriously undervalued, dealers said.
In the housing shares, we have seen profit-taking because of a huge rise on Sunday, especially in Heliopolis Housing. People are locking in their profits, said Ahmed el-Hifnauy of EFG-Hermes Securities Brokerage.
The market looks very healthy.
Heliopolis Housing shares closed 3.7 percent down at LE 520 after gaining 30 percent on Sunday and continuing the upward trend on Monday. The gains came after a trader sent a memo to clients that valued the shares at LE 1,500 to 2,000.
Shares in Medinet Nasr Housing, another housing stock that has seen sharp gains in recent days, closed 7.8 percent lower at LE 320.
Overall, the benchmark Hermes index closed 1.2 percent lower at 70,033.37 points, while the well watched Case30 index closed 1.3 percent down at 7,861.09 points. The broader CIBC index dipped 1 percent to end at 351.09 points.
Shares in mobile operator Mobinil, however, bucked the downward trend to gain 8.4 percent to close at LE 185 pounds.
Dealers said there was talk in the market that the firm could make a decision soon to acquire a third generation mobile phone license.
They (traders) do believe this will eventually happen, and that it could be very soon, said Yasser Hassanein of Dynamic Securities, adding that the market was also optimistic that Mobinil would offer higher quality 3G services than currently available should the firm buy a licence.
Shares in Egyptian Resorts also gained, rising 0.8 percent to end at LE 8.40. Hassanein said that was on market speculation that the firm could announce a new land deal by the end of the week.
