CAIRO: Egypt s main stock indexes rebounded on Sunday from last week s correction, carried by a strong rally in the housing sector and a rise in investment bank EFG-Hermes, traders said.
EFG-Hermes climbed 5 percent to reach a year closing high of LE 51 per share after renewed interest in the sector following the announcement last week that Egypt would privatize state-owned Banque du Caire within six to nine months.
Egyptian Resorts also surprised investors by jumping nearly 15 percent to close at LE 9.6 pounds a share as the most actively traded stock on the market.
I think the highlight of the day was Egyptian Touristic Resorts, said Yasser Hassanein of Dynamic Securities. For a while now it hasn t been able to reach LE 9, but it went as high as 9.6 today.
Overall, the Case30 index rose 1.8 percent to end at 8,498.22 points, while the benchmark Hermes index rose 1.6 percent, closing at 74,786.07 points. The broader CIBC index closed up 1.6 percent at 348.19 points.
Following the upward trend in the housing sector was Sixth of October Development Investment Company (Sodic) which continued its run from last week, climbing 2.1 percent to close at LE 170.16 a share.
Heliopolis Housing rose 0.5 percent to close at LE 620 a share after the company announced its shareholders union would soon sell some shares at a target price of LE 700 per share.
El Sewedy Cables rose 2 percent to close at LE 80 a share, as investors digested news of a jump in copper prices to LE 60,000 per ton.
In June, El Sewedy announced its intention to build an $850 million copper smelter and refinery on the Red Sea coast, news that traders say has also driven the company s shares up in recent weeks.
El Sewedy is one of these shares that are becoming very popular with institutional investors, because it s always expanding, Hassanein said.
