Main Egyptian stock indexes were nearly flat in quiet trade on Sunday, with investors hunting for bargains buying into Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), traders said. Shares in OCI, Egypt's largest listed builder, rose more than 1 percent before crawling back towards the end of the session to last trade at 126 pounds ($22.82), 0.21 percent higher compared to Thursday's close.
"There was some buying power in OCI, possibly because it is at a low price at the current level. Most research reports set the price target for OCI at around 300 pounds," said Mohamed Kotb, director of asset management at Naeem Financial Investment.
"There is a huge upside potential for the stock," Kotb added. Traders said the market remains quiet during the holiday season, with low volumes and weak interest from foreigners.
"The market is dead. Everything will be clear on January 1," said Hashem Ghoneim, Vice Chairman of Pyramids Capital.
Oriental Weavers, the world's biggest machine-woven carpet maker, rose 0.71 percent to 22.80 pounds. The firm said on Sunday it would delay planned construction work on a new industrial complex from mid-2009 to the beginning of 2010 because of the global financial crisis. "This (the share's rise) could be a reward for the management of the company because in the current circumstances it is not reasonable to carry out new projects," Kotb said.
Overall, the benchmark CASE 30 index ended 0.15 percent lower at 4,351.39 points and the rival Hermes index shed 0.19 percent to 407.88 points. The broad-based CIBC index fell 0.32 percent to 280.9 points.
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