Telecoms interest pushes up Egyptian stocks

CAIRO: The two main Egyptian share indexes rose at least 1 percent on Wednesday on continuing interest in telecommunications after the Telecom Egypt offer to raise its stake in Vodafone Egypt. Telecom Egypt shares last traded 2 percent higher at LE 15.02 ($2.62) and brokers said the company had a good chance of increasing its stake in Vodafone to 49.9 percent. Telecom Egypt is offering LE 100 each for the extra shares it is seeking and Vodafone s share price on Thursday closed at LE 99, indicating that the market did not take seriously rumors of a counter-offer by another shareholder. Bassim Arida of CIBC brokerage said that some Vodafone shareholders might also decide to sell for fear that with very few shares floating freely the stock might become illiquid. If Telecom Egypt has its way, it and Vodafone Group will be the only Vodafone Egypt shareholders left. I m sure they (Telecom Egypt) will get most of the stake they want, said Hashem Ghoneim of El Nour Securities. The interest in telecoms pushed up other stocks in the sector – Mobinil ended 1.3 percent up at LE 160.61 and regional operator Orascom Telecom last traded 1.4 percent higher at LE 325.50. Investment bank EFG-Hermes regained its position as most actively traded stock, accounting for one quarter of volume. It gained 1.4 percent to LE 42.03. The Hermes index ended 1 percent higher at 56,987.45 points and the well-watched Case 30 index was 1.2 percent up at 6,426.93 points. The broader CIBC-100 index rose 0.01 points to 260.39 points.