Egypt's bourse tumbles

Egypt's bourse made its largest decline in six weeks on Thursday after 74 people were killed in violence at a soccer stadium, a fresh setback for a country struggling with weak security a year after its president was overthrown.
The main index ended 2.2 percent lower, regaining some of its lost ground after having fallen more than 4 percent at the open as Mobinil and its parent company Orascom Telecom Media and Technology rose 4.1 and 4.5 percent respectively to offset declines in other stocks.
"The market is in a panic after what happened yesterday," said Omar Darwish of brokerage CIBC. Commercial International Bank dropped 4.3 percent and property developer Palm Hills dipped 3.4 percent. Gulf markets were mixed, with Dubai's index falling 1.2 percent to trim to 10.4 percent its gains since mid-January's seven-year low as disappointing results from some companies spurred investors to lock-in recent gains.
Union Properties fell 9.8 percent, its largest decline in more than two years, after reporting a widening annual loss. The firm's chief executive told a local newspaper in January it had reached a $1.03 billion debt deal with major shareholder Emirates NBD.
"Union Properties numbers were expected to be bad - the stock did rally hard on the back of the refinancing news and the results are a reality check - the company hasn't gone back into profitability," said Haissam Arabi, chief executive and fund manager at Gulfmena Investments. Dubai Islamic Bank dropped 4.1 percent, with investors seemingly disappointed by its proposed 15 percent cash dividend for 2011. "It's some healthy profit-taking that will invite people who missed the boat to take positions prices at lower prices," said Arabi. "I see any pull-back being short-lived." Mashreq bank plunged 9.9 percent, a day after its results showed a 59 percent quarterly earnings drop.
"A lot of (UAE bank) lending is secured against property assets and the value of these assets has fallen sharply and may worsen still, which is a contributing reason why banks are not aggressively lending," said Raj Madha, Rasmala MENA banking analyst. Abu Dhabi's benchmark climbed 0.4 percent, its 11th gain in 12 sessions.
"There's been a good start to the year globally that has helped sentiment world-wide," added Gulfmena's Arabi. "There's optimism Greece's debt problems will be resolved and the worst for the euro zone is over, with an overall good feeling in the market I've haven't felt for a long time.