CAIRO: Heavyweight stocks dragged Egypt’s index down 0.3 percent, but talk of a possible takeover bid for private equity company Citadel Capital lifted sentiment.
"Heavyweights are pulling back a bit and they’re weighing on the overall market," said Hashem Ghoneim, vice chairman of Pyramids Capital. "They’ve had a good run, so it’s normal they slow down."
Commercial International Bank (CIB) dipped 2 percent, EFG Hermes was down 1.4 percent and Orascom Telecom shed 0.9 percent.
But Citadel Capital closed up 0.3 percent after posting a net loss of $241.7 million in 2010 due to writedowns from under-performing oil production assets.
Earlier in the session the shares gained as much as 8 percent, with traders citing market talk that a Dubai-based firm may be eyeing Citadel. The stock has gained around 20 percent since the start of the week.
The company said on Wednesday it had not received any direct acquisition offer, but traders said the rumors had not gone away and were cushioning the stock from heftier losses.
"I think the rumors surrounding the stock in the market are stronger than the lousy results," said Mohamed Radwan, head of equities at Pharos Securities.
Nader Khedr, an investment and capital market analyst, said he had expected bigger losses at Citadel as it sold none of its subsidiaries in 2010. Restructuring businesses and selling them on is a major source of the company’s revenue.
Telecom Egypt rose 0.7 percent after reporting a 10 percent drop in first-quarter net income, a smaller decline than analysts had forecast.
