Recently listed Alexandria Minerals Oil Company (AMOC) and regional giant Orascom Telecom (OT) pulled up Egyptian stocks on Sunday to reverse a three-day correction.
Ezz Steel Rebars and property company Sixth of October Development and Investment (SODIC) also buoyed the market, despite low volume during the shorter hours of trading in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Brokers said there was no news to explain the bullish sentiment but the correction appeared to have run its course.
"The AMOC rebound affected the market positively, and then the OT rebound (affected it) too," said Mohamed Radwan of Delta Securities.
The benchmark Hermes index gained 55.63 points, or 1.2 percent, to close at 48,288.46 points, compared to last week's record high near 49,000 points. The broader CIBC index rose 3.36 points, or 1.9 percent, to 185.01 points.
AMOC, which the state sold to retail investors at 45 pounds ($7.83) a share last month, rose 7.4 percent to last trade at 90.06 pounds, below the record close of 94.00 reached on October 2.
Orascom Telecom, one of the weightiest shares in the Egyptian market, gained 2.5 percent to last trade at 570.01.
INTERBANK RATE STEADY The median overnight rate on the Egyptian pound was roughly steady at 9.375 percent on Sunday, compared with 9.339 percent on Wednesday, the last trading day before a long holiday weekend.
Two treasury bill auctions on Sunday had little effect because old T-bills for similar amounts will mature on Tuesday, the same day the new ones are issued, bankers said.
In the auctions, the central bank is offering 364-day T-bills worth 2 billion pounds ($348 million) and 91-day T-bills worth 900 million pounds. The amount maturing on Tuesday is slightly less, at a total of 2.4 billion pounds.
Four out of 10 banks contacted by Reuters dealt overnight, at rates between 9.2 and 9.65 percent, compared with a range of 9.3 to 9.5 percent on Wednesday.
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