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Market Report: Egypt stocks up 1.8 pct as investors ignore political challenge Bourse extends its gains on the hopes of an agreement to the week's military versus parliament impasse
Egyptian stocks extended their gains on Wednesday, as investors shrugged off a challenge to the military by the Islamist-led parliament, which reconvened despite a court decision that resulted in its dissolution last month. The benchmark EGX30 rose a healthy 1.8 per cent to close out the session at 4,794 points. "Most investors are ignoring the political events of yesterday," Shamel Fahmy of Pharos Securities told Reuters. "There is good appetite for quality names such as OCI. Some investors are fleeing to value stocks." Egypt's constitutional court swiftly ruled that newly elected President Mohamed Morsi acted illegally in summoning parliament, heightening a confrontation between the head of state and the military establishment. Investors, however, seem to be taking a longer-term view and counting on an eventual agreement between the two forces. The index tumbled 4.2 per cent on Monday after Mursi first ordered parliament to reconvene, but saw a modest rebound Tuesday. From the day's 171 listed stocks, 131 gained in value and 25 declined. Just two of the market's 30 largest stocks finished in the red. Total turnover was LE316.7 million ($52.3m), slightly higher than the pre-election average but still a long way from last summer's level. Orascom Telecom Media & Technology once again saw the heaviest trade -- some LE58.1 million -- in the run-up to a mid-June distribution of cash divideds. Shares closed the day up a mild 0.32 per cent. In second place was former stablemate Orascom Construction Industries, which saw LE49.8 million worth of trade and closed up a respectable 1.66 per cent. The biggest heavyweight gainers were Mobinil, up 5.08 per cent, and the Commercial International Bank, up 4.35 per cent. Non-Egyptian Arabs were the day's sole net-buyers, by a relatively thin margin of LE3.5 million. Egyptian and foreign investors were net-sellers to the tune of LE1.19 million and LE2.3 million, respectively.
