CAIRO: Middle East bourses rose on Sunday, boosted by a rally in global oil and metals prices, which attracted buyers in petrochemical and industrial stocks, and news of possible telecom deals.
Telecoms dominated news from the region, led by growing speculation that Egypt’s Orascom Telecom (OT) may be nearing a merger deal with Russia’s Vimpelcom.
Vimpelcom is in talks to buy Naguib Sawiris’s Italian unit and his 51-percent stake in OT in a deal potentially worth $6.5 billion.
The talks have been complicated by Algiers, which says it has the right of first refusal over OT’s Algeria unit Djezzy. A planned visit by Russia’s president to Algeria this week is fuelling optimism of a deal.
"People are taking the news as a signal that this might be a sign that a deal will go through," said Shamel Fahmy, senior regional sales trader at Pharos Securities. "Most of the contribution today is mainly driven by retail (investors) … based on speculation."
Shares in OT rose 4.8 percent, lifting the index, EGX30, which ended 1.5 percent higher with 6,736 points.
