Egypt's stock exchange hit a seven-month high after the finance minister said it will sign a US$3.2 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
Cairo's main index rose 2.9 percent to 5,113 points, the highest close since 21 June.
Palm Hills jumped 10 percent, Egyptian Resorts and Amer Group surged 9.7 and 9.5 percent respectively.
"The IMF negotiations and the clearer timetable for presidential elections are boosting confidence in the market. Investors are pouring fresh cash into Egypt," said Chamel Fahmy of Pharos Securities.
Presidential elections will be held in the first week of June, several weeks ahead of the previously announced end-June deadline for the vote.
Egypt's finance minister said his government will sign a memorandum of understanding with the International Monetary Fund in March for a previously spurned $3.2 billion loan, state media reported Sunday.
State-run Al-Ahram newspaper quoted Finance Minister Momtaz al-Saeed as saying that an IMF delegation will visit Cairo next month to sign the agreement for the three-phase loan.
"The interest rate on the loan is 1.2 percent, and it will be used to support the budget for 2012-2013," he said.
The loan will be paid in three installments, the first as soon as the agreement is signed, he added.
Egypt had turned down the loan last year, saying it did not want to add to its foreign debt, but reconsidered as its economy plummeted and much of the promised aid from Arab and Western donors did not materialize.
In January, the head of an IMF mission to Egypt ruled out imposing conditions on Cairo for the loan.
Egypt is facing a budget deficit of LE144 billion, which analysts expect to deepen as the country continues to feel the aftershocks of an uprising last year that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak.
