Transactions on the CASE 30 Index were most vibrant this week featuring mixed activities of buying and selling, despite the shortened trading session in the holy month of Ramadan.
The week opened with a sharp rise in blue-chip, and the Index gained 2.3 percent Sunday to close at 8,470.44 points. Mobinil shares jumped 2.9 percent to close at LE 196.03 per share. Orascom Telecom rose 6.3 percent to close at LE 73.90 per share on talks that the company would team up with France s Iliad for a fourth mobile license in France.
Other blue-chip stocks, such as the Commercial International Bank gained 4.3 percent to close at LE 74 per share, and El-Ezz Steel climbed 2.8 percent closing at LE 52.75 per share.
On Monday, the bourse continued to inch up with shares in Orascom Construction Industries jumping to a record intra-day high due to heavy institutional buying. OCI rose 0.66 percent to last trade at LE 452 per share. After two days of hitting record highs, the Index slightly edged down Tuesday on profit-taking operations on shares of OCI.
The bourse hit an all-time high on Wednesday ending the session at a historic high of 8,608.62 points, thanks to hefty foreign buying after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 50 basis points. According to the CASE, foreigners seeking alternatives to US dollar deposits were net buyers by LE 271 million out of a total volume of LE 1.36 billion.
The biggest gainers were big stocks such as EFG-Hermes and Orascom Telecom. EFG-Hermes was the most widely traded stock by turnover and soared 5 percent to close at LE 45.60 per share. Sixth of October Development and Investment (SODIC) rose 3.6 percent to last trade at LE 167.98 per share, while Orascom Telecom gained 0.9 percent to close at LE 73.02 per share.
The week ended with the bourse being pushed down on profit-taking on blue-chip stocks, particularly those of CIB and OCI. Shares in CIB slipped 2.4 percent to last trade at LE 73 per share, while OCI shed 1.2 percent to close at LE 450 per share. Overall, the CASE 30 index retreated 0.9 percent to close at 8,530.23 points.
