Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) led Egypt's benchmark index to a fresh all-time closing high on Sunday as the stock surged on expectations of strong results due out after the close of trading, traders said.
The Hermes index ended up 296.89 points, or 1.7 percent, at 17,618.24 points, while the broader CIBC index rose 0.60 points, or 0.6 percent, to finish at 98.40 points.
OCI, the regional construction and building materials company, was the market's top percentage gainer, rising 9.08 Egyptian pounds ($1.46), or 7.2 percent, to last trade at 135.20 pounds. The official weighted close was 132.30 pounds.
"OCI's expected strong results are due to come out today and have pushed the stock higher," said Mohamed Radwan of Delta Securities.
Two analysts said they expected OCI to post a net profit for the first half of 2004 of between 490 million and 500 million pounds, compared to 255.3 million pounds reported for the first six months of 2003.
Bassim Arida at CIBC brokerage said OCI was benefiting from a surge in local cement prices this year and revenues from its cement exports. He said the firm's businesses abroad, such as Algeria, were also doing well.
Some other cement firms also rose, including Sinai Cement which last traded up 0.65 pounds, or three percent, at 22.56 pounds. The official weighted close was 23.89 pounds.
Dealers said telecoms, a sector which has recently reported a surge in earnings, gathered momentum towards the end of the session. Orascom Telecom rose 2.8 percent and Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (MobiNil) climbed 4.1 percent.
Comments
Comments are closed.