Bourse indexes rise collectively at end of Monday trading

The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) indexes closed up Monday backed by share purchases by local and foreign investment institutions and mutual funds with reports surfacing that the acquisition crisis of CI Capital, the investment arm of the Commercial International Bank (CIB), is coming to an end.

The market capital achieved gains worth EGP 1.6 billion to reach EGP 407.4 billion, after transactions surpassed EGP 1.4 billion.

The EGX 30 benchmark index soared 0.74 percent to close at 7,577.02 points.

The broader EGX 70 index of the leading smaller and mid cap enterprises (SME) increased 0.02 percent to hit 366.95 points.

The all-embracing EGX 100 index also rose 0.22 percent to close at 791.63 points.

In February, CIB signed a deal to sell CI Capital to Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding (OTMT), owned by businessman Naguib Sawiris, for EGP 924 million ($104.06 million).

Sawiris said at the time he planned to merge CI Capital with Beltone Financial, which OTMT bought last year, to create one of Egypt's largest investment firms but the deal has been stalled since then.

In a different context, EGX hosted this morning a group of children from an orphanage for the first time ever in its history to ring the trading session's opening bell to mark Orphans Day, which falls on April 1 in Egypt.