CAIRO: Egypt’s Mobinil jumped 5.2 percent, adding to a 10 percent surge a day earlier on speculation over potential changes in its shareholder structure, pushing the main index up 0.4 percent by the close.
Magnate Naguib Sawiris told Reuters on Wednesday he had no plans to sell shares in Mobinil, his company’s mobile phone joint venture with France Telecom.
Mobinil said on Thursday the firm had not received notice from either Sawiris or France Telecom of any move by Sawiris to sell his stake in the company to the French group for LE 160 per share. Mobinil closes at LE 103.85.
Orascom Telecom, Mobinil’s Egyptian shareholder, dipped 1.2 percent.
"The rumor on Mobinil is not credible and, now that Sawiris denied it, there’s no rumor any more, so we just don’t know what’s going on," said a trader at CIBC.
Commercial International Bank rose 2.4 percent, the fourth-biggest gainer on the 30-company index.
Traders said the firm is gaining after Fitch Ratings removed a viability rating on the company from Rating Watch Negative (RWN) this week.
Pioneers Holdings added 0.8 percent after it said it made a net profit of LE 30.5 million ($5.1 million) in the second quarter of 2011, up from LE 10.1 million a year earlier.
Orascom Construction shed 0.2 percent. The firm was awarded a project worth $181 million to build a 1,500 megawatt power station in Giza, it said on Wednesday.
It is also one of three foreign companies bidding to build a gas power plant in Iraq north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said. The firm’s projected pipe-line is likely to help its shares, traders say.
"OCI will be moving because new projects have been announced, which means new money," said Hisham Metwalli of Arab Finance Brokerage.
The index, which touched a two-year low of 4,418 points last week, closed at 4,747 points.
"Resistance is 4,800. We are hoping the market will stop there. If it goes below that again, the market will be sending a sell signal," said Metwalli
Meanwhile, Dubai’s index gave back earlier gains but Arabtec helped it to close in the green while Abu Dhabi’s index slipped to a nine-day low.
Arabtec, the United Arab Emirates’ largest builder, gained 0.7 percent, accounting for a fifth of total shares traded on the index. Dubai Financial Market rose 0.9 percent and low-cost carrier Air Arabia climbed 0.5 percent.
Dubai’s index climbed 0.08 percent to close at 1,468 points.
Volumes are thin in Abu Dhabi, signaling muted buying interest and exaggerated stock moves.
Investors are wary of entering the market at new positions on a weak global growth outlook.
Morgan Stanley analysts became the latest to cut forecasts for global growth, citing "recent policy errors" in the United States and Europe, plus prospects of further fiscal tightening in 2012.
Deutsche Bank cut its projection for Chinese GDP growth to 8.9 percent for 2011 from 9.1 percent and to 8.3 percent for 2012 from 8.6 percent, largely reflecting a downgrade in export outlook due to slower growth in the United States and Europe.
Large-cap banks weighed with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank slipping 0.3 percent, Union National Bank retreating 0.6 percent and National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah declining 1 percent.
The broader index shed 0.06 percent and ended at 2,584 points, its lowest close since Aug. 9.
Elsewhere, Qatar’s measure ended 0.2 percent lower at 8,191 points, extending its 2011 losses to 5.7 percent. The index halted two days of gains as investors book profit ahead of the weekend.
