National Societe Generale Bank (NSGB) climbed on a mixed Egyptian bourse on Sunday on rumours that a state-owned bank may have received an offer for its stake in the joint-venture bank, traders said.
Officials at the Central Bank of Egypt, which last week denied a report that state-owned National Bank of Egypt (NBE) had received an offer for its NSGB stake, were not immediately available for comment.
NSGB last changed hands five percent higher at 49.64 Egyptian pounds ($7.96) and officially closed at 49.53 pounds.
"People don't want to believe the story that there are no bids (for NSGB)," one trader said. The central bank's denial of a report that NBE had received offers for its NSGB stake sent the stock down 10 percentage points on Wednesday.
"NSGB had an effect on the rest of the banking sector," Chahir Hessni of Delta Securities said of NSGB's recovery on Sunday.
Commercial International Bank (CIB) last changed hands 2.3 percent higher at 35.51 pounds with an official close of 35.43 pounds.
The benchmark Hermes index, which has recently hit a string of record highs, was last quoted up 90.28 points, or 0.4 percent, at 21,362.58 points. The broader CIBC index was last quoted 0.04 percent lower at 98.16 points.