CAIRO: Egypt’s main index edged up 1 percent after the country’s military rulers announced a date for nominations to a presidential election, a move likely to accelerate a transition to civilian rule.
Orascom Telecom Media and Technology soared after its founder Naguib Sawiris detailed new expansion plans in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in a Reuters interview.
Protesters who fought police in Cairo for the past five days accuse the generals who took power from president Hosni Mubarak last February of mismanaging the country and are demanding a swift end to military rule.
Fifteen people have died in the latest violence which erupted in Cairo and the eastern city of Suez after 74 people were killed at a soccer match last week, drawing a stinging rebuke of the army-backed government.
"I think the market is responding well to bringing forward the date for registration of presidential candidates," said Ahmed Abu Taled of Pharos Securities.
"This will speed the transition process and this is the main reason for the recent chaos over the past four to five days."
The new date for presidential vote nominations is March 10. It was previous set for around mid-April.
The index traded at 4,584 points.
OTMT was the most traded stock, gaining 6.1 percent, following the comments by its head Naguib Sawiris in an interview on Monday.
"I expect Orascom will be the stock of the future. Sawiris has a close interest in the company and seeks expansion in the upcoming period," said Wael Enaba of Awa’el Securities.
Other traders said there is unconfirmed talk of some reorganization of share holdings between OTMT and its subsidiary, mobile phone company Mobinil. Mobinil was up 8 percent.
Among other blue-chips, Pioneers Holding rose 9.4 percent and Orascom Construction 2.8 percent.
Real estate developer Talaat Moustafa Group fell 1.8 percent after an appeal court upheld a 15-year imprisonment sentence on its ex-chairman Hesham Talaat Moustafa.
