CAIRO: Big Egyptian stocks recovered some of their recent losses on Tuesday, led upwards by investment bank EFG-Hermes and Orascom Construction Industries, which announced it had a stake in a large wastewater project in the Gulf emirate of Ajman. EFG-Hermes, which peaked at LE 285 ($49.74) in late January, gained 5.4 percent to last trade at 190.98 on broadly positive sentiment about Egypt s big-cap stocks, brokers said. Broker Yasser Hassanein of Dynamic Securities said EFG-Hermes also found buying interest from investors who want to be part of the second stage of a big capital increase. Media reports about its operations in the Gulf also helped, he added. OCI last traded 2.3 percent higher at 259.11 after the stock exchange released a statement that the Besix Group, which is 50 percent owned by OCI, had a 50 percent stake in the Ajman sewerage BOT (build-operate-transfer) project. Total revenues of the BOT contract are expected to reach 297 million euros ($353 million) during the (27-year) concession period, in addition to the revenue from the construction of the new facilities, which is valued at 132 million euros, it said. The benchmark Hermes index rose 815.30 points, or 1.3 percent, to 63,361.11 points. But the broader CIBC index fell 0.48 points, or 0.2 percent, to 257.35 points. The biggest percentage loser of the day was tobacco monopoly Eastern, which shed 6.0 percent to LE 350.00 despite reporting a 37 percent increase in net profit in the six months to December 2005. The selling pressure still exists for many stocks but some buying power has came back again, said Mohamed Radwan of Delta Securities. Reuters
