CAIRO: Egyptian stock indexes were mixed on Tuesday, with the broad CIBC-100 index rising on local buying and investors locking in profit on big-cap firms, traders said.
The benchmark CASE 30 index ended 0.41 percent lower at 4,711.85 points, while the rival Hermes index gained 0.37 percent to 442.14 points. The CIBC index advanced 1.74 percent to 303.9 points.
It is really normal, the market had gone up nicely the last four or five sessions, said Hashem Ghoneim at Pyramids Securities. Fundamentally, a lot of stocks are still very cheap, he added.
Orascom Construction (OT) and Orascom Telecom (OT) – which have a combined weight of more than 35 percent on the main index – both retreated from recent highs, as local investors again dominated trade.
OCI shed 1.8 percent to LE 143.02 and OT retreated 2.11 percent to LE 31.14. Mobinil, another recent heavyweight gainer, dipped 1.97 percent to LE 141.98.
Cairo-based investment bank EFG-Hermes issued a number of downgraded estimates for Egyptian firms. It cut its long-term fair value on Ezz Steel, Egypt s largest steel producer, by LE 10 to LE 20, saying it sees a weak fourth quarter driven by lower capacity utilization and falling steel prices.
Ezz Steel was the most actively traded stock by turnover, and ended 5.46 percent higher at LE 10.63.
The bank cut its short-term rating on Heliopolis Co for Housing & Development to neutral. It also cut the company s long-term fair value to LE 58 ($10.54) from LE 165.
Heliopolis trimmed early gains to end 0.79 percent higher at LE 30.63.
