CAIRO: Egypt s main stock indexes lost more than 2 percent of their value on Sunday, as regional sentiment and profit taking depressed prices in very low volume trade, dealers said.
It is end of year trading and sentiment in the Gulf was also bad today, said Teymour El-Derini from Beltone Financial.
Volumes were appalling, he said.
Selling pressure pushed El Sewedy Cables down 6.85 percent to LE 71.53 ($12.97). The stock has traded in a range between LE 60 and 80 in recent months.
Mobile phone operator Mobinil saw its shares fall 7.42 percent to LE 132.06 after the firm declared a cash dividend of LE 3.62 per share.
Regarding the dividend payment I guess it was not what people were expecting and the stock took some hitting, Derini said.
Further profit-taking was seen in Commercial International Bank, which had risen steadily since late November but lost 5.25 percent to LE 32.50. Regional mobile phone operator Orascom Telecom also slipped after recent gains, down 3.09 percent at LE 27.63.
Brokers said selling was not uncommon at the time of the year as investors balance their accounts.
Many institutions are closing their open positions before the end of the year, said Wafik Dawood from Naeem Brokerage, Local brokerages need to cover credit lines.
Gulf markets were broadly lower, with Dubai s main index off more than 5 percent and Kuwait dipping 2.6 percent as crude oil price falls dent market sentiment in the region.
The benchmark CASE 30 index ended 2.87 percent lower at 4,325.77 points and the rival Hermes index lost 2.65 percent to 405.27 points. The broader CIBC index was down 1.59 percent at 278.6 points.
