Egypt textile stocks lead Egyptian market higher

Posted 07 April 2008 @ 03:40 am EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian stocks inched higher on Sunday led by gains in the textile sector after the market shrugged off any potential effects of a thwarted labour strike in the Nile Delta, traders said.

Nile Cotton Ginning shares jumped 18.4 percent to 35.34 Egyptian pounds, while Arab Polavara Spinning and Weaving gained 5.1 percent to 13.16 pounds. Both were among the day's three most heavily traded shares by turnover.

Overall, the benchmark CASE 30 index climbed 0.83 percent to 11,465.96 points, while the well watched Hermes index ended 0.70 percent higher at 99,941.02 points. The broader CIBC index added 1.6 percent to 554.08 points.

"The market today has seen a strike but we didn't hear any bad news," said Hossam Abdel Rahman, senior broker at Optima Securities.

Security forces thwarted plans for a strike by about 20,000 textile workers in the Nile Delta on Sunday, and solidarity protests elsewhere in Egypt were blocked or failed to draw widespread support.

Shares in Egyptian Electrical Cables were also higher, gaining 7.8 percent to 3.05 pounds.

Shares in Medinet Nasr Housing rose 3.3 percent to 75.11 pounds. One dealer said traders were buying the company's shares on optimism after the firm obtained building permits for a strategic piece of land in greater Cairo.

Orascom Hotels and Development bucked the upward market trend, dipping 1.1 percent to 87 pounds after it posted a 124 percent rise in 2007 net profit before minority interest to 478.5 million pounds.

Orascom Hotels said last month it would seek to list its shares in Switzerland, where its owner, Samih Sawiris, is planning to build an Alpine hotel resort.

A new holding company, called Orascom Development Holding AG, would become the group's new parent company, to be listed on Switzerland's SWX stock exchange by around May 7.