The Egyptian Stock Exchange’s main index climbed just 0.38 during trading on Tuesday, gaining 20 points to hit 5,295 points thanks to LE350 million in transactions.
Egyptian and Arab investors drove most of the buying, basking in a glimmer of hope after the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority approved a deal over Orascom Telecom shares.
Investors were also bolstered by news that a merger between EFG Hermes and a Qatari company is in the final stages of approval.
Egyptians and Arabs purchased LE27.8 million and LE7.7 million worth of shares, while foreign investors sold LE35.5 million in stocks.
The Orascom deal sets the stage for a Cypriot firm to purchase its stocks. The company is affiliated with Russia’s Altimo, a telecoms investment branch of the Alfa Group Consortium.
Meanwhile, investment bank EFG Hermes said it was waiting for the last word on a merger with Qatar’s QInvest.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
