Egypt market up extra 0.5% on major firm gains

Egypt stocks continued their two-week surge on Sunday, boosted by recent deals for two of the country\'s major companies to creep ever closer to pre-uprising levels of trade. The EGX30 benchmark edged up 0.49 per cent to close at 5,570 points, bringing its year-to-date gains to a mighty 54 per cent. From the 184 shares traded on Sunday, 97 gained in value while 70 declined. The broader-based EGX70 index saw substantial growth, rising 2.13 per cent to 520 points by the end of play. Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), Egypt\'s largest listed company led the market, driven by news of fresh fertiliser business in the United States. It saw LE55 million in trade, with shares gaining 1.54 per cent to finish at LE292.5 apiece. Investment bank EFG-Hermes saw yet heavier trade of some LE87 million, with shares gaining 1.65 per cent. Its share have benefited from the firm\'s recent announcement that it will distribute LE4 ($0.66) per share once its tie-up with Qatar\'s QInvest is concluded. The day\'s total trade was a healthy LE662 million, just over 80 per cent of which came from Egyptian investors. They were net sellers to the tune of LE48 million. Egypt\'s largest bank by market cap, Commercial International Bank (CIB), saw its shares climb 1.31 per cent to close at LE31.8. CIB is a favourite with non-Arab foreign investors, who made up 11.22 per cent of the session\'s volume and bought LE23 million more shares than they sold. Palm Hills Development (PHD) was perhaps the day\'s most significant loser, slipping 0.77 per cent to close at LE2.57 per share. PHD had seen significant gains over the past week with its share prices climbing to a recent high. (ahram)