Egypt stocks up 1.7pct on rising forex reserves

EGX30, EGX70 rise by 1.7pct, 2pct respectively on reported increase of Egypt's foreign-currency reserves Egypt stocks continued to rebound for the second consecutive day on Tuesday driven by positive news about the country’s rising foreign reserves and an anticipated settlement between the Egyptian Tax Authority and Egypt's Orascom Construction Industries (OCI). The benchmark EGX30 index rose by 1.7 per cent for the day to reach 5,567.55 points, even though Egyptian investors were net sellers for the day, offloading some LE30.3 million worth of stock. "Egyptians feel some uncertainty given the violence that is being reported in Sinai," Eissa Fathi, head of securities at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, told Ahram Online. "So they took advantage of today's market rise to engage in some short-term profit taking, selling what they bought on Monday." On Monday, the Central Bank of Egypt stated that Egypt’s foreign currency reserves had increased by $441 million to reach a total of $15.484 billion as of the end of October. The broader EGX70 index, meanwhile, rose by 2 per cent for the day in a session that saw daily turnover stand at LE352.4 million. Foreign investors, for their part, were net buyers on Tuesday, making some of LE49.3 million worth of purchases. Most heavyweight shares saw gains for the day, led by Commercial International Bank and OCI, which rose by 3 and 1.8 per cent respectively. On Monday, Egyptian financial daily Amwal Al-Ghad on Monday reported that OCI and the Egyptian Tax Authority had reached an initial agreement on LE14 billion (some $2.28 billion) worth of unpaid corporate taxes. The agreement, the paper reported, entails forgiving OCI some LE2 billion ($32.6 million) of the taxes owed. Orascom Telecom and Ezz Steel, meanwhile, climbed by 1.4 and 3 per cent respectively. Property shares also rose for the day, led by Palm Hills and Talaat Mostafa Group, shares of which increased in value by 2.3 and 0.2 per cent respectively. SODIC, meanwhile, fell by 0.8 per cent. From ahramonline