CAIRO: Egypt’s main index closed up 0.3 percent as Egypt’s largest steel producer, Ezz Steel, jumped 2.8 percent following a report that it may bid for new production licenses.
Financial daily Al-Mal said Ezz was considering a bid for the licenses offered by the Industrial Development Authority.
Orascom Telecom extended a decline on continued concern over Algeria’s plan to buy its Djezzy unit.
OT is the most active stock on the Egypt Exchange, with LE 56 million ($9.84 million) of its shares traded. The stock already fell on Monday after Algeria’s government announced a tender to seek advisers for its planned Djezzy purchase.
"OT is trading in a very narrow range as investors still await a clearer picture in the OT-Djezzy news," said Ossama Naguib, a technical analyst in Arab Finance Brokerage.
Traders said a worldwide increase in the production of iron and steel has boosted investor confidence and Ezz had lagged gains by other big-cap Egyptian stocks in the last two weeks.
The EGX30 closed at 6,824 points. The index touched 6,947.67 points last week, its highest since May 13.
Textile stocks were among the top ten gainers. Spinning firm Arab Polavara closed up 3.4 percent followed by Arab Cotton Ginning, which gained 2.3 percent.
"Investors were interested in the textile sector since Egypt’s entering winter season and cotton prices are up," said Amr El-Feky, head of technical analysis at Cairo Capital Securities.
